No One Can Control It
by Tar Irene
Summary: At 18, Sarah finds herself lured back into the Labyrinth once again - this time with her own life at stake. But will Jareth discover, before it's too late, that some things are beyond even his control? J/S
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I'm baaaack. My old readers are never going to believe it - if they're still around - as this story was posted to ffnet starting back in 2003. Yikes. However, I have really good news for anyone reading this right now:

1. It's better than last time. Much. I promise, 7 years have really helped my writing ability.

2. It's finished! All of it. It will be updated regularly, and that is actually a promise I can keep this time... because it's already allll written.

Much love to my readers, and without further ado...

* * *

_October 31, 1989_

Sarah stared at the cigarette in her hand, smoke gently curling up from it. Annoyed, because it was quickly becoming a stump and the pack in her back pocket was empty. Slouched against a brick wall, standing on one leg with the other braced flat against the brick, she gave a heavy sigh and leaned her head back against the wall. Trying to draw it out to make it last longer was no good; she brought the cigarette to her lips to take a deep draft. It was heaven. She blew out the smoke in a cloud and contemplated the street in front of her. Little more than a back alleyway, it was silent amid the lengthening shadows as the sun sank lower in the sky. Peaceful, she thought. No one around to bother her. Such moments were far and few between, it seemed. She took another draft of her cigarette.

"Sar! Sar, are you ready yet?" A masculine voice interrupted the slow drift of her thoughts. She turned her head to see a man poke his head out of the door to the building. He didn't look happy. "Babe, you're still in jeans! I thought we were supposed to be getting ready."

She faced the street again, not bothering to look at him as she spoke. "We still have to go over to my parents' place to get Merlin."

"You don't want to change there, do you?" Sarah could tell by the tone of his voice that his eyebrows were raised.

"I left everything for my costume there this morning," she said by way of explanation.

She heard the door slam shut, and turned to look at him again as he took a few steps closer to continue the discussion. "So much for you moving out," he said with a forced laugh, not altogether amused.

Sarah took what she could tell where the last few drags of the cigarette, and dropped it on the cement, grounding her heel into it. "You're the one who wanted the dog as part of your costume," she pointed out.

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, it's all my fault - as usual. I've just got my backpack inside - I'll grab it and we can go." He strode back to the door and opened it, holding it for her. It wasn't a gentlemanly gesture - he just wanted to be sure she wasn't going to stay outside and leave him waiting around inside for her some more. She went in without comment. He let the door close with a bang behind them.

"You couldn't wait to change into your costume, I see," Sarah said as she watched him stride across the studio to grab a ratty backpack sitting on the floor under the mirror that covered the entire back wall.

He looked back at her and grinned. His heavy eye makeup, gelled hair, and leather outfit weren't all that different from his normal getup, but he had added a spiked collar, horns, and a pitchfork, and dyed his hair a fiery orange. "Halloween is the best day of the year."

Sarah just rolled her eyes.

"OK, let's go," he said, crossing the room and pulling open the interior door. The studio was one of several in the back of the local theater, where the two of them spent a great deal of their time. He worked there in production and Sarah, to the extent she was anything, was an aspiring actress, and occasionally had parts in local or school plays. This studio, in fact, was where they had met, almost two years ago now. He'd been intrigued by her quiet, almost secretive attitude towards the world and the people in it; she'd been attracted by his glam rock look and the fact that he was not in high school. Sarah scowled to herself at the thought. She refused to think about the reason she was attracted to the glam rock type or older men.

They made their way through the theater and out the main entrance to the parking lot, where his beat-up old jeep was sitting. They climbed in and he started it, without too much difficulty.

They drove in silence most of the way through downtown and out towards the nicer part of town, where the houses were older and larger and the streets took on a stately air. Finally, he said, "You don't seem too excited about tonight, babe."

Sarah didn't reply. He knew better than to say stupid things like that to her. She made it a habit not to get excited about anything. And other peoples' excitement just irritated her.

He kept talking anyway. "It's going to be the biggest bash of the year. If the cops don't shut it down, that is. Of course, if they do, we'll just move deeper into the tunnels. That's what's great about partying in a cave."

Sarah stared out the window. They were driving by an old park, her favorite when she was little - and not so little. It held a lot of memories. She always looked for owls in the branches of the oak trees - but she never saw any. She didn't know why she always still thought of it.

"Babe, you're not listening to me."

Reluctantly, Sarah unglued her eyes from the passenger-side window and faced forward. "I'm excited," she stated in a flat and unconvincing tone. "Spending the evening underground will just make my day."

Her companion just laughed. "You'll have fun," he assured her.

Sarah snorted and didn't say anything. They had turned the corner onto her street, and were approaching her parents' house. She figured anything she said wouldn't make much of a difference in the next few minutes.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him shake his head. "Sometimes you're more of a pain than you're worth, kiddo." His voice was affectionate, but it did nothing to mitigate Sarah's irritation with him. This whole conversation had been a massive waste of breath. Sometimes she suspected that all of her relationships with other people were a massive waste of breath.

They pulled up into the driveway alongside the house, behind a couple other vehicles. Sarah climbed out of the car, and not bothering to wait, strode around the corner to the back of the house. She pulled open the screen door and pushed open the interior door, which was never locked. She had hoped to avoid her stepmother, but no such luck -

"Sarah! Is that you? Don't think you can sneak upstairs without coming to say hello." Karen's voice came from the kitchen, high-pitched and sounding stressed out, as usual. Sarah groaned quietly and rounded the corner into the kitchen, feeling trapped. Karen was standing at the counter, slicing something up and looking too dressed up for domestic activities to be the only plan that evening. She looked over at Sarah as she came into view.

"Oh, it is you." She sniffed. "You've been smoking again. Ah, and you've brought Jade as well." Her tone was icy, but she held out her hand as Jade came from behind her to enter the kitchen and shake Karen's hand. Karen's face and tone could not have expressed more disapproval if she'd been faced with a criminal rather than a goth with a fairly inoffensive personality. The only wrong thing Jade had ever done was bought her cigarettes before she was 18, Sarah thought resentfully. They didn't even drink - much. And she'd certainly never done drugs - Sarah found them unutterably lame - and the tripping was so fake.

"It's nice to see you again, ma'am," Jade said to Karen politely. "We just came over to borrow Merlin for my costume. The heads are out in my car."

Karen nodded. Sarah frowned at her. "Are you and Dad going out tonight?"

"Yes, dear, we are," she said, turning around and dumping whatever she had been slicing into a bowl. She washed her hands and dried them on a towel. "Don't worry, we hired a babysitter for Toby. I expect we'll be spending a lot of money on her if you really do move out." She said the words "move out" with a twist, as though they left a sour taste in her mouth.

Sarah sighed. "We've had this fight already. Jade and I are ready for this."

"You're in high school!" Karen had taken her apron off, but instead of hanging it up, was clutching it in her hands, twisting and wrinkling it.

"I'm 18 now," she noted, the words coming by rote. They'd had this exact conversation fifty - no, a hundred - times already.

Jade coughed. "Sarah, I'm going to find Merlin and get him ready. Why don't you go upstairs and change into your costume?"

That was a good idea. She turned on her heel and left the kitchen without another word to either of them.

* * *

Her room was quiet and still, the sanctuary from the outside world it had always been. It was spartan in comparison to earlier years: the stuffed animals and knickknacks were gone, passed on to Toby or others who'd wanted them. The pictures of Linda were gone, as was most of the influence the absent mother had had on her life. Sarah had found out that it was hard to care about all the things she used to care about after discovering that everything she'd assumed about the world and reality was wrong. Her fantasies about life if her mother had stayed lost their attraction once she'd ran smack dab into the middle of a very real fantasy of her own. She wondered for the millionth time if his offer had been sincere, and what would have happened if... But, she reminded herself - as she did every time she started to think about it - she had chosen the mundane life of Sarah, Toby's sister and Robert and Karen's daughter. She hadn't even tried to call her friends from the Labyrinth again, afraid they wouldn't come and she would _know_ she could never get back. She didn't think she could face the certainty of a life here.

She turned away from her vanity mirror with a frown and opened her closet. Most of her clothes she'd already brought over to Jade's apartment, but still hanging there were some heavy black robes, a sturdy and well worn pair of black lace-up boots, and a pointy black hat. She shrugged out of her leather jacket, slipped the robes on over her jeans and T-shirt, laced up the boots in place of her sneakers, and headed back downstairs. She would grab an old straw broom from the shed on her way out, but she refused to do anything stupid like paint her face green or put on a crooked fake nose. The only thing she'd done was grow her nails long and file them to points, at Jade's insistence. Halloween didn't have much charm for her. She suppose she'd been spoiled by exposure to real spooks.

When she headed back downstairs, the house was quiet and empty. She headed back outside to the back yard, from which she could hear laughter and noise. She pushed open the screen door. It was dusk and someone had turned the floodlights on, and the moths had begun to flutter around. Sarah quickly closed the screen door. Karen and her father were standing in the yard, their backs to her, watching Jade do something with Merlin behind his jeep by the side of the house. She could hear Toby's shrieks of excitement over their conversation.

She didn't really feel inclined to marvel over whatever Jade was doing to Merlin, but she walked down the steps anyway and came to stand by her father. Jade had gotten his fake sheepdog heads out of the jeep and was trying to attach them to Merlin's collar, who wasn't exactly cooperating. Toby was rendering no assistance whatsoever; the four-year-old's excitement was only making the dog even more agitated.

At her side, her father was laughing. He seemed to not mind Jade as much as Karen did, although he of course thought Sarah was too young to go live with her boyfriend. He probably was relieved she had finally showed an interest in something, in someone. Her looked over at her as she came up, a friendly smile on his face. "Big plans for tonight?"

"I guess," Sarah shrugged. "Some of Jade's friends are throwing a party. Don't worry, there won't be drugs." She said that in the same indifferent tone of voice - she had no idea whether there would be drugs there, but didn't care. She wouldn't be tempted either way. Robert's expression become slightly less friendly. "Right," he said uncertainly. "Well, be careful. I guess you're coming back here afterwards?" he said, his intonation sounding slightly hopeful.

Sarah just shrugged again. She didn't know, didn't really care. "Whatever."

Jade had gotten one of the extra heads on Merlin, who didn't seem too pleased. She decided she would rather help with that than stand there and continuing talking to her father. She walked over to them and knelt, slinging her arm around Merlin's stomach and drawing him close to her body to restrain him. Jade grinned at her and encountered much less difficulty attaching the second head. He offered Sarah his hand to help her stand up, and they both stepped back to admire his handiwork.

Merlin, decided Sarah, looked nothing like a dog from hell. Wasn't Cerberus supposed to be black? Or at least big and evil? Jade had somehow gotten a hold of two fake dog heads that looked very much like Merlin's - although a tad too small in comparison to his real head - and had decided that he would dress as the gatekeeper to hell, with a three-headed hound as his faithful watchdog. Sarah shook her head. A three-headed Merlin was just comical.

"Well done," her father called out genially. Jade grinned his thanks and helped Merlin jump up into the back of the jeep. He waved good bye to Toby, who suddenly got shy and went to hide behind his mother.

"All right, you kids have a good time and be safe," her father admonished. Sarah nodded to him and Karen without saying anything in reply and climbed into the passenger seat of the jeep. She would have liked to say good-bye to Toby, but it wasn't worth continuing to exchange pleasantries with her father and stepmother. Jade took slightly longer, as he'd gone back to shake Robert's hand and thank him for letting them borrow Merlin, but he didn't say a word to her in reproach for her rudeness as he started the car and drove off. She counted that a small victory - when they'd first met, he'd still thought he could reform her and help her repair her relationship with her father and stepmother. Now, he knew better. Sarah was really stubborn.

* * *

They took the highway west out of town, towards a small system of caves about 20 minutes away. A few of the rooms were open to tourists during daylight hours, but all it took was jumping a fence to get in at night. Jade's friends had decided it would be a great spot to celebrate Halloween, and Sarah had gone along with the plan, although she had never liked the idea of being trapped underground. No, some decidedly unpleasant things could happen there. She narrowed her eyes and suddenly despised herself for agreeing to this. Did she really need to tempt fate? Maybe real life sucked, but she was not eager for a second confrontation with powerful and angry magical kings.

Jade was talking to her again, but she wasn't listening. It was absurd to think that just because she was going into a cave system that the night would end up being anything other than a party with a bunch of loud drunk twenty-somethings. She blew air out of her cheeks and made up her mind to quit thinking about the possibility of otherworldly adventures. She tuned back into what Jade was saying.

"...ditch this town, you know. I've got this friend in New York who might know some guys who could find us a place. Wouldn't it be great to go there?"

Despite herself, Sarah smiled at the idea. "Yeah," she said, for once not halfheartedly. "That would be cool." It would be a change, anyway - a change from her awful boring life. Her lips thinned with sudden self-displeasure. What a whiner she was being tonight!

Jade grinned but didn't press the idea. They were there. He turned off the road and pulled up into a dirt parking lot. A bunch of cars were already there, and Sarah could hear the music before she even opened her door. A few kids were hanging out in the lot, drinking already. Jade went around the car and let Merlin out of the back, managing to grab hold of the leash before he bounded away into the night. Sarah came around to see if she could help him, and he surprised her by leaning in and planting a kiss on her lips. "Ready, beautiful?"

She smiled slightly and nodded, feeling vaguely guilty. Jade was a good guy - she should treat him better, really.

"Got all your stuff?" he asked. "Where's your broom?"

"Oh -" she said with a slight start of surprise. "I forgot about it in the shed at my parents' place. Oh well," she shrugged, "doesn't matter."

His face fell and one hand went to his hips. "Sar, how could you! Without a broom you don't even have a _costume_!"

She eyed him warily. "Chill, it's no big deal."

"No big deal!" The hand not holding the leash was now being waved in the air in front of her face. She took a couple steps back. "You _know_ it's my favorite night of the year - could you at least pretend a little enthusiasm here?"

"God, Jade, grow up, it's no big deal. Come on, let's go." She turned and started walking towards the fence which, she was relieved to see, had been conveniently cut and wouldn't require jumping. Jade followed her with the three-headed Merlin. "You're such a bitch," he muttered. Sarah didn't reply. She was at that, but Jade got upset at the most ridiculous things...

It wasn't too difficult finding the entrance in the dark, with the music to guide them and light streaming out of the place already. They found a well-worn path leading to a set of stairs descending into what was little better than a hole in the ground. Sarah frowned but didn't like the idea of asking Jade to go first and admitting she was nervous, so she and her pride - damn the thing - descended the staircase with trepidation. It widened soon enough to reveal a good-sized room with some cool stalactites, already crowded with kids and noise. Some enterprising person had managed to string orange and black crepe paper from some of the formations on the roof, and the shadows thrown about by the lanterns on the floor threw everything into spooky relief. Quite appropriate for Halloween, Sarah thought.

Jade had followed her down the steps accompanied, not without some difficulty, by Merlin, who was now barking at everyone and generally being obnoxious. Sarah decided to break away from them and hunt out the drinks. She could use some alcohol.

"Hey baby doll, need some help?" The obnoxious voice was coming from Pat, a friend of Jade's Sarah didn't care for. He was dressed up as a cop, which was ironic and actually kind of funny, decided Sarah. Pat made breaking the law a habit, and he was smarmy about it. She wasn't inclined to pick a fight with him right now, though, as he was holding out a bottle of tequila to her, which was just what she was looking for. She grabbed it from him and permitted her eyes to tell him he was cute. Pat knew she hated him, of course, but he grabbed her and leaned in for a kiss anyway.

Sarah hadn't had enough alcohol yet to put up with that. She elbowed him and twisted away. "Thanks for the tequila, bro," she said in a dismissive manner. She ducked away through the crowd and went looking for Jade again, downing swigs from the tequila bottle as she went. About three shots into it, it didn't taste nasty anymore. Very nice, Sarah thought approvingly.

Jade was easy to find - she just had to head in the direction of Merlin's barks. He had found his friends Tim and Scotch, who had been the ones that concocted this whole scheme, and they were laughing uproariously about something. "Idiots," muttered Sarah to herself, and turned to head in another direction. She ran right into Pat - had he been following her? - who grabbed her and didn't miss this chance to try to stick his tongue down her throat. She shoved at him roughly, but her balance was impaired, and she fell down instead.

No need to defend herself, though - of course Jade came crashing over screaming some obscenities at her and Pat. He hauled her to her feet - with rather unnecessary force, was he drunk already? - and tried to level a punch at Pat, who dodged easily enough, and just laughed. The tequila bottle had fallen out of her hands at some point, and Sarah wrenched herself out of Jade's grip and staggered a few steps away.

"What are you _doing_?" he confronted her angrily. Sarah drew herself upright and put her hands on her hips. She was more pissed at him for being an idiot than at Pat for being a leech. "You jerk," she began heavily, "Don't even think for a second I needed your help! I hate you!"

Jade's face screwed up in an angry knot. "You're an ungrateful little bitch," he snarled. Before Sarah could draw enough breath to argue back, Merlin's barking caught her attention again - and what the hell? He wasn't with Jade anymore!

"What did you do with Merlin?" she asked, sidetracked from their stupid fight. He blinked, thrown off by the change in topic. "I - don't know," he said, sounding confused.

Sarah glared at him. "I hate you - now you've lost my dog too. I _knew_ it was a lousy idea to let you take him as part of your ridiculous costume - forget it!" she exclaimed when he was about to speak. "I'm finding Merlin and getting out of here. Screw you! I can find my own ride back home!"

She whirled around, miraculously keeping her balance, and pushed her way through the crowd in the direction of Merlin's barks. Her head was spinning and her heart was racing from the alcohol and the fight. Jade, she thought with heat, was such an idiot. What was she doing with him anyway? Him and his damn friends and his damn party -

She broke off her train of thoughts as she spotted Merlin. He was in the back of the room, on the opposite side from the entrance, still barking at something - shadows moving on the wall, she supposed. "Merlin!" she shouted. "Come here!" Instead of obeying, he barked louder and moved away from her, towards the dark at the back of the cavern.

"No!" Sarah shouted. She didn't want to go back there, but she ran after Merlin anyway. She couldn't lose him, and who knew if he'd make it back on his own? She took off after him, but there was a tunnel around a large formation she hadn't noticed before - and Merlin had gone through it - and _oh hell this was a bad idea_. She nonetheless grabbed a lantern from the floor behind her, lifted the skirts of her robe and chased after him. She could see him ahead, and hear him barking at shadows. The stupid dog! The tunnel was large enough for her and she wasn't afraid of getting lost - not yet anyway - Merlin was just a shape ahead and oh hell, he was chasing something too, wasn't he? Those shadows...

Sarah swallowed down her panic. "Merlin!" she called again, futilely. He was still barking, and the tunnel was now heading uphill instead of down - and was it her imagination or could she hear other things moving too? Small creatures who liked the dark - liked mischief.

"Shit, oh shit," she breathed in sudden fear. Her chest hitched up in pain - she ought to give up those stupid cigarettes, she thought wildly. There was a light up ahead - a dim creepy light that was not a reflection from her lantern and was not headlights coming from the parking lot outside. Merlin disappeared around a corner and suddenly Sarah knew with a clear sober certainty that she should stop, should just let him go, and turn back. She could blame the missing dog on Jade, and it would be sad, but bounding off into the dark like this in the mysterious caves had been a terrible idea. And yet... she couldn't for the life of her do anything but go forward. It was Merlin. She ducked down and rounded the corner and burst out into the weird light.


	2. Chapter 2

The lantern fell from numb hands and crashed to the ground. Sarah squeezed her eyes shut in an attempt to avoid the inevitable. She'd known it - she'd known it from the moment she'd sensed something else in that tunnel other than her and Merlin - and yet she was mentally unprepared and caught off guard. She opened her eyes again and tried to clear the alcohol from her brain.

She was looking at the Labyrinth for the second time in her life. In front of her was a hauntingly familiar scene. But this time, rather than the mysterious and enticing dark brown and orange tones of seven years ago, the scene was made of gloomy, forbidding dark blues and brooding, sickly greens. It gave Sarah the chills.

To her left, a path led to a dead, skeletal tree choked with creeping vines and covered with the refuse of parasites. To her right were dusty, lifeless pits, juxtaposed with a very sentient-looking mass of rocks, and she could feel eerie rumblings coming from them. Behind her was no trace of a cave or a tunnel. She was stuck.

A stinging wind, laden with sand and debris, came whipping through the plains and caught her in the face, causing her to wince in pain. As nightmarish as this seemed, Sarah was definitely awake and conscious. At her feet, panting after his run, was Merlin - still with his ridiculous three-headed costume. There was no sign of the goblins he'd been chasing - for Sarah was now certain they had been goblins.

At the signs of her attention, he barked. And again. And again. Sarah bent down, intending to comfort the dog, and Merlin growled. Three heads snapped at her. Sarah froze.

Three heads? She backed up, her eyes wide with shock. All three heads were moving. Sarah's breath caught in her throat and she froze. Merlin whimpered, sensing he'd done something wrong. Sarah reached out a hand in disbelief, wanting to comfort her loyal companion but not knowing how. Two heads sniffed at her hand and one of them licked it. The third was starting off into the distance, tail wagging.

Too shocked to process what had happened, she followed the dog's gaze. Peering into the gloom ahead, she was able to discern the upward sloping Labyrinth only by sinister looking lights dancing around on its slopes. Sighing heavily, she figured that it would be just her luck that she should have to thread the Labyrinth at night. If she had thought it was bad last time, surely it would be much worse when she couldn't even see most of the threats.

For that was all that was left for her to do, wasn't it? She had nowhere else to go, and couldn't go back. Answers would surely lie at the center. She was sure this was all _his_ fault. No need to name him. What else could she do but play his game, once again?

She resolutely set her jaw and strode forward. She had beaten it once. She could do it again.

A sharp bark from Merlin caused her to glance back down at him. All three heads were now focused in the direction of the Labyrinth. Uber creepy, thought Sarah. But maybe he would be thrice as effective a guardian and companion on her journey? The thought cheered her. Anyway, wasn't she just thinking of how boring her life was - and almost longing to be back here again? She tossed her head and started walking down to the great wall of the Labyrinth, her heart beating fast. Maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to have done, to have followed those goblins down a dark tunnel, but she was here now and might as well see what there was to see. She wondered idly if she had a thirteen-hour time limit to - to do what? Find a way back home? Find the center of the Labyrinth? Find its stupid King? What on earth was she even doing here?

As she approached the wall, she couldn't suppress the hope that Hoggle would be there, killing off another sixty or so biting fairies. But of course, she wasn't going to have that much luck. She didn't see any dwarves, fairies, or gates when she finally got close enough to tell. Cursing and muttering under her breath, she pressed her hand to the stone and began to feet all along the wall for a breach or opening of any sort. Finding nothing in that section of wall, she then sought uselessly for any hold that might give her access to the top of the wall. She wasn't the greatest climber in the world, but maybe if she could find something to grab onto - but the stone was too vertical. Defeated, too, in that, Sarah started to follow the length of the wall, trailing her hand along it at every step, but all to no avail.

Had her earlier conclusion been wrong? Was she not supposed to enter it this time? After ten minutes of stumbles, bruises, torn hands, and tripping, she gave up. She'd ruined her nails, which was probably for the better as she'd managed to scratch herself with the pointy ends several times already anyway. She threw back her head and vocally let out all of her frustration, indignation, and pure rage that had been building up in her. Even Merlin joined in his mistress's scream with three loyal howls. What the hell were they _doing_ here?

After her breath was completely spent, she sank to the ground and closed her eyes. She firmly made up her mind that when she opened them, someone would be there to help her, the way the worm had come last time.

To her own astonishment, someone was. Merlin barked loudly the instant he noticed the creature, but it was already close enough to touch, like it had snuck up on them deliberately. She immediately jumped up and looked at it.

It was not Hoggle, but it looked enough like him that Sarah decided it was most likely a dwarf. It was short, stubbly, and very ugly. It carried a spray can and a lantern.

"Er, hello," began Sarah. She fervently hoped it wouldn't be as fond of enigmatic answers as Hoggle had been. "Will you show me how to get into the Labyrinth?"

The creature wrinkled its nose, twisting its already unpleasant features into a gross parody of a real face. "Who're you?" it demanded suspiciously.

"Oh, I'm, um..." Sarah bit her lip, wondering how infamous she was - or wasn't - in the Labyrinth. As far as she knew, no one else, once having entered, had been able to leave it. Heart beating, she decided that this dwarf most likely represented her only chance of getting into the Labyrinth. She didn't want to make enemies too soon. "Louise."

It wasn't entirely a lie; it was her middle name. But the lie didn't seem to allay the dwarf's suspicions any. It frowned deeply and spat viciously at the ground. It grumbled something unintelligible, and peered around at the wall. It spent several minutes rubbing its toe in the dirt and generally showing its dissatisfaction with Sarah, while she stood there, tired, cross, and impatient. Shifting weight onto her other leg, she wondered if she oughtn't scream again when the creature spoke.

"Why's you be wantin' to get into there? It ain't a pretty sight."" It finished with a deeply dark chuckle, and Sarah inadvertently shivered.

"I have to, I think have to get to the castle, and play this stupid game, so won't you just help me, and be quick about it?" Sarah said in a rush, increasingly more irritated with this dwarf as every moment passed.

It spat on the ground again. "Well's you're determined," it said, "I gotta show yer in. But don't be bitin' off more 'n you kin chew."

Sarah just stared at it. It made no move. "Well!" she demanded. "Are you going to show me in or sit here all day?"

Its features crinkled again, and Sarah decided this one was definitely uglier than Hoggle. "I'll show yer in," it said finally, reluctantly. "But remember as I ain't doin' it 'cause I wanna."

Sarah barely refrained from rolling her eyes. No, she had been just sure the dwarf had offered to show her in out of the goodness and charity of its heart. "How disillusioning. Well then can we go now? Please," she added quickly.

It gestured to the solid wall, much like Hoggle had once done. But nothing happened.

Sarah turned back to the creature. "What about it? I just spent the last ten minutes probing that wall, there is no opening."

The creature growled at her. "And you think _you_ kin find th' op'ning? It ain't there fer jus' anybody ter find. Go on, 'cause I ain't hangin' 'round here any longer than I hafta."

Sarah nodded. It made sense, sort of. An inhabitant of the Labyrinth had to show her, an outsider, any secrets. The Labyrinth wouldn't disclose them to anybody. And, realized Sarah, by the same token, just one guide would never be enough to show her through, as every section was different, and held a different secret. She would need another full collection of friends to make it through again.

She walked towards the opening, feeling smart, and promptly banged her face into it.

"Ouch!" she cried, and whirled on the creature. "What was that for?"

The creature smirked at her, its features lifting into an entirely different, but no less revolting, aspect. "Fer thinkin' you was smarter 'n me." He clutched his spray can, and trundled towards the opening. He walked right through the wall, seeming to dissolve as did an illusion. His light went with him and Sarah was left to manage in the poor visibility on her own.

Sarah bit her lip with frustration. How was she ever going to survive thirteen hours of this? When she was younger she had thought it somewhat of a grand adventure, discovering that magic was real and that she could be a part of it. But now she was somewhat more jaded, and was starting to realize that her longing to be rid of her boring life hadn't really involved being in this nightmare once again. Well, at least Toby was safe... she hoped.

She turned to Merlin. He was wagging his tail, all three tongues panting happily, eager to follow her. That the three heads had come to life still creeped her out, but her canine friend's personality was still the same, and the sight of his indomitable spirits rose her own. She turned to the outer wall of the Labyrinth, which wasn't really a wall at all. She smiled at him. "Come on, boy," she urged. "Let's go get 'em."

He barked, and she put her hand up to the wall, encountering no resistance. She stepped cautiously through, and her vision went completely blank. It was as if she had walked into a low-riding cloud- not yet condensed into fog, but still damp and clingy. As a result, she didn't see what was on the other side of the wall until she was right in the middle of it.

* * *

"Oh, shit!"

That was the first thing out of Sarah's mouth as she saw two small, but fierce and very ferocious-looking, creatures headed straight down on her, growling and armed with viciously tipped spikes. She didn't even have time to react before she was shoved mercilessly aside by the closer of the two, the long edge of the spike tearing through the flesh of her right arm. She released a short cry as the pain shot through her, but had no more time to respond. The first creatures had swerved past her, but as she whirled around to face the sounds behind her back, she saw more little monsters wildly waving an assortment of dangerous implements in the light of their makeshift torches. And she was right in the middle of them.

She grabbed her arm tightly, trying to block out the pain, and looked around desperately for something to use as a weapon. All she saw, however, was more wild little creatures running around.

Goblins. Sarah had no idea what they were doing, but their lack of coordination seemed to be working against her rather than for her this time. She wasn't, it seemed, their target, but was just in the very wrong place at a horrible time. Soon after, a hail of large, rounded missiles came shooting her way, and though she ducked as quickly as she could, several hit her. She hissed and gritted her teeth, half-rising from her crouched position in an attempt to meet another wave of the stupid little creatures. She didn't have a clue what they were doing - or what she was doing here.

A particularly ugly and nasty goblin came too close to her, leering, lifting its weapon to strike her. She held her arms in front of her face in a useless attempt at defense. Sure that she had met her doom, she waited with bated breath for the blow to fall. Was it all going to end this soon?

A fierce and furious bark caused the thing to fall back, and stumble over its own feet as it attempted to race back to the comparative safety of its companions. Merlin. He had sensibly retreated to the edge of the wall when they'd entered the Labyrinth, and had been safely out of harm's way - until he saw his mistress threatened. The little dog's loyalty made him jump into the middle of the goblin, decimating it.

Relieved, Sarah got to her feet, hissing through her teeth again at the pain caused by the simple movement. But when she turned her attention to the mle again, the relief fled at once. Merlin's brave action had prevented the goblin from destroying Sarah, but as soon as the dog attacked the goblin, what seemed to her to be hundreds of others rushed to the rescue. Sarah watched in horror as one goblin, larger than the rest, brought his pike crashing onto one of the dog's heads. It must have _hurt_, but the other two were still putting up a fight - goblins were flying everywhere, some of them in pieces. Sarah cast around desperately for a stick to help, but it was too late. She thought she could hear Merlin whimper slightly amid the chaos, and then, she saw him fall down and go perfectly still.

Sara's breath caught in her throat. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't think. Her world went still, and froze.

The goblins froze as well. The fact that all other motion had stopped managed to penetrate Sarah's fog and strike her as strange. Although her senses were fixed on the dog, she noticed that the passageway had gone very quiet and still. She would have thought they were as shocked as she was, if she had thought much about it.

Then, without warning, the goblins collectively caught their breath, and _scampered_. Within a few seconds, the passageway was entirely deserted. Sarah, however, didn't even stop to thank her luck - she threw herself, mindless of her hurts, to Merlin's side.

No movement came from the dog. The shape lay there, lifeless, meaningless, abandoned. Sarah swallowed, hard, and knelt down to it.

"Oh, no," she breathed quietly. She gently picked up the smashed body, tears forming in her eyes. There could be no doubt as to the outcome of that skirmish, but Sarah refused to accept it. She had to refuse to accept it. His bravery had saved her own life but cost him his. Sarah released the forlorn body and buried her head in her hands, every ounce of her strained in denial. It couldn't be true, it just couldn't be! Merlin had been with Sarah for years, through the hardest years of her life, always willing to listen, always there to cheer and support her. And to meet an end in this god-forsaken Labyrinth, before Sarah was even one-thirteenth of the way through, was too much to bear. How had she ever let this happen?

How long she sat there grieving, she didn't know, and didn't care. Merlin was far more important to her than finding out what she was doing here and why. Her motivation dried up with the dog's life, and suddenly she could not have cared less if the Goblin King himself were to show up and claim her soul for his own, or whatever he might be up to this time. What could he do to her that would really matter, anyway?

And then - of course - he _did_ show up. She heard a slight swish in the air to her left, and glanced up briefly. She gasped involuntarily. He had appeared there, dressed more casually than she'd ever seen him before (Oh lord, were those _blue jeans_? They were!), surrounded by a small glow of light countering the darkness of the Labyrinth. Sarah's stomach sank. His sudden appearance could be no other than perfectly timed, just when Sarah was at her emotional lowest. She almost refused to believe it, and even wondered for a bit if she wasn't hallucinating. For three years she had fantasized about seeing him again - but right now, she didn't care for the meeting at all.

He took a look around, and slowly his eyes came to rest on Sarah. Without meeting his gaze, she could still feel his mood, which radiated from him as a very palpable force: he was livid.

Sarah closed her eyes, trying her very best to block out the physical and emotional pain threatening to take over her system. She tried to make her breaths come evenly, forcing herself to slow down and be calm. She wondered in the back of her mind why he thought _he_ had a right to be angry over this situation.

"Sarah..." The word came out gently enough, for him. Her deep sense of injustice was lessened slightly by the realization that his anger was not directed towards her. Slightly. She opened her eyes, stood up, moving a little away from the dog, and, blocking out the pain caused by those actions, she faced him.

"What the _hell_ are you doing here?" she hissed, clutching her sliced arm. "I don't need your ridicule right now, thanks very much; I'm doing a great job of making myself miserable without your help."

A slight hint of a smile appeared around the corners of his mouth, but then his visage hardened into his former expression of stony anger. "Is it dead?" he asked shortly and bluntly, inclining his head slightly toward Merlin.

Sarah bit her lip hard to keep back a furious reply. _Is it dead_ - could he possibly be any more unfeeling? She nodded, once, looking into his furious gaze, her own eyes filled with pain. He barely acknowledged her reply, striding over to the body lying on the ground. He looked at it, deep in concentration for several moments, and then it disappeared.

Sarah gasped in shock. "No!" she screamed. "What in the world-" She took a hasty step towards him, but had misjudged her ability to move quickly, and her ankle twisted and she fell with a gasp to the ground.

He laughed at her clumsiness, and looked up at the black sky. A few moments later he turned his attention back to her, and drew a deep breath. "The Labyrinth does not kill, Sarah. Ever. Nor do its creatures. The purpose is to defeat, not destroy." His gaze momentarily turned to the ground before he finished speaking. "This shouldn't have happened."

Sarah drew in a long, deep breath before looking up at him and replying with measured breath. "Then. Why. _Did_ it happen? Why was he here? Why am I here?" she asked, struggling to control herself.

"The dog was not supposed to be here," he answered. "He slid into the portal without the spell recognizing him. Too sensible to be tricked by the illusion of being in the Labyrinth, he was therefore never fully in." His tone was indifferent now, simply lecturing. He continued, as Sarah tried to break in. "Yes, illusion," he said shortly. It was uncanny how he knew exactly what she had been trying to say. "The basic principle of a portal spell is to bend the mind into thinking one is somewhere else. Once that has been established, the actual transportation is simple." Sarah tried once more to say something, before being cut off again. "It isn't wise to think about that, however," he said, a hint of a smug smile doing its best to break through the stone, "or it may not work for you."

Sarah just stared at him, at a loss for words. Portal spell? Is that what had happened to her in that awful tunnel? Was it all Jareth's fault, just as she had suspected? She opened her mouth once again to demand answers, but he was quicker to speak than she was.

"Now," he said, his tone even more aloof, "The Labyrinth has killed. There is a mess to clear. If you'll excuse me, I have much to do." And, without giving her any chance to speak at all, he disappeared.

Unbelievable. The nerve of him. He hadn't answered her questions at all! She sat there for a while after he left, trying to cool down. The Goblin King hadn't been as unpleasant as she had expected, nor had he been very intimidating - blue jeans, of all things! - but she was still left with all of her problems and all of her questions, alone in the now deserted corridor. _A mess to clear?_ Casting her glance over to where her faithful mate had rested for the last time, she buried her face in her hands and cried.


	3. Chapter 3

Seconds, minutes, hours later - she wasn't sure how long - Sarah stood up, taking a deep breath. Life sucked, but being stuck in the Underground forever certainly wouldn't improve it. She had to keep moving. Looking down the long passageway, no shorter than it had been seven years ago, she bit her lip and closed her eyes, trying to think. But how she could be expected to thread this stupid Labyrinth when she could barely concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other, she had no idea.

She opened her eyes and decided not to think so much. She ripped a strip of cloth off the black robe and tied it around her arm, hoping to at least protect it from further injury. She noted with bitterness that "clearing" the "mess" hadn't involved helping her with her arm or her ankle. She then concentrated on ignoring the way her body ached every time she took a step, and turned to her right. She put out one hand, gently feeling along the inside wall, certain that there would eventually be an opening, like last time. Feeling only solid rock, she moved down, probing its length as she had the outside wall.

No openings. She walked down for what seemed like forever, and finally lost patience after about twenty minutes of the same uneventful walk. Was it _exactly_ like the wall outside the Labyrinth? Instead of venting through another scream, which would only have brought memories of Merlin's howls, Sarah just rubbed her eyes and sat down, trying to think.

Obviously she would not find the Labyrinth identical to her previous time. Everything that she had learned during her first journey was now gone. There was no waiting dwarf; there would be no simple opening for her to find, and probably no worm. Most likely there would be no door guards with shields either. Thinking furiously, she tried to remember how she had gotten through this place the first time. She couldn't duplicate her actions, evidently, but she should be able to apply the theories she had used last time to any new situation the Labyrinth gave her.

The problem with that was, she had no idea what those theories were. She raised her head a little, looking around despairingly. It was hopeless. If the King didn't have to play by the rules in bringing her here - and he had basically admitted to bringing her here, hadn't he? Who else would have set a "portal" spell? - then what guarantee did she have that there was a way through at all? If he wasn't afraid to cheat and just put her through the Labyrinth with no justification, then why did she think he wouldn't cheat in the actual Labyrinth?

Damn him. It just wasn't fair. And the only time she could remember ever coming to terms with unfairness was when life was being unfair in her favor - her first time here, she had stolen Hoggle's jewels, and it wasn't fair, but that was fine with her. She had then returned home and taken out her frustrations with life on her family and her boyfriend - and that was fine with her. She wondered if Jareth had thought it was unfair when she beat him.

He probably had, but Sarah realized that sitting here ruminating on the philosophy of fairness was getting her nowhere. She still didn't have the slightest clue what she was going to do, but she stood up and surveyed the long passageway. It was no shorter than it had been ten minutes ago. She let out a huge breath and rolled her eyes at the sky. This was getting ridiculous.

She slowly continued winding her way on through the passage, her despair growing with each minute. Watching the end get not a bit closer, thinking about all the times she'd gone for walks with Merlin, wondering what her family or her boyfriend would do without her, and hoping that Toby, wherever he was, would be all right, she kept walking. Maybe Karen would even miss her... if anyone even noticed she was gone. She'd left things in a mess with everyone who'd been close to her, hadn't she? Her parents thought she had moved out with her boyfriend and she had all but broken up with her boyfriend and told him to get lost...

Suddenly, she tripped over a low sitting branch, falling headlong onto the stones, with barely time to throw her hands over her face until she hit the hard stone floor. Every pain from the goblin skirmish multiplied tenfold. Shaken, as she gathered her scattered wits, she noticed her hands were lacerated and one of her knees was throbbing from the landing. Thoroughly disgusted with herself, she rested her head on one stone that was sticking up past the others, trying to calm her racing heart. The alcohol was apparently still messing with her locomotion. Wasn't the situation bad enough without her every little move managing to make it worse?

After the noise of her heart died down, she noticed that she could hear little voices, seemingly coming from underneath her. Frowning, she sat up - and the voices faded away. When she again put her head to the ground, she realized the voices were coming from under the stone on which she had been resting her head. With an almost feral smile, Sarah pulled on the stone, which easily came away, and revealed a tunnel teeming with little creatures, chattering away in a high pitched tone, and running each and every way as if there were no tomorrow. The tunnel was easily big enough for Sarah to lift herself down into. She was preparing to do so, cut hands and all, when a small, peppy voice stopped her short.

"Don't go _that_ way!"

Amazed, Sarah looked over at a tiny, brightly-colored worm, perched on the side of the wall. She was both amazed at a circumstance repeating itself, and frustrated that it would be an unhelpful circumstance. Not go that way when it was the only way? Oh please.

"Why not?" she demanded. "It's the only way."

The worm shook its head. "Never go that way! It's my and my kind's job to keep people from goin' that way. If you keep going that way, you'll go straight to that dreadful castle."

Sarah's mouth dropped open. Straight to the castle?

"But I need to get to the castle!" she cried, and lowered herself into the tunnel disregarding the worm's cries completely. The impact of her landing jarred her more than she had expected, and she collapsed onto the ground. The stone she had uncovered above the tunnel somehow was slammed back into place, leaving her in darkness even more impenetrable than the night outside. With one collective movement, the little creatures stopped their sounds and disappeared, leaving the tunnel to profound silence.

Wounded, torn up, weak, shaking, alone, grieved, and now completely lost. She cursed herself for breaking that lantern up by the cave. She sighed. Could it get any worse?

The earth chose that moment to tremble beneath her.

"Oh, shit," she repeated softly.

* * *

Jareth reappeared in a clearing on the other side of the Labyrinth. He surveyed the small patch of bare land in front of him. Bordered by an unfriendly swatch of forest on all sides, it was an ideal burial ground, where scavengers would not be likely to find the body. Several goblins were gathered near the edge, huddled around a small body lying on the ground. When they noticed Jareth's arrival, they drew back to the trees, away from him.

As dimwitted as the goblins were, even they knew how far was too far. It was perfectly in order to inadvertently knock a few stones in the direction of a hapless mortal traipsing through the Labyrinth, but they'd never heard of taking a life before. Jareth suspected that was why all the goblins involved had been so eager to vacate the scene, and why these goblins here were acting so wary of their King.

And Jareth was certainly furious. But his fury was not for the goblins: they had functioned as mere instruments of a greater will.

He nodded to them calmly as he approached. They weren't exactly bright, but they knew enough to sense his moods. They relaxed slightly as he knelt down once more to the body.

The cause of death was, on the surface, the various bruises and broken bones the dog had suffered. One head had been smashed in, but the other two looked fine. Jareth was no expert on canine anatomy, but his instincts were telling him that the extent of the injuries was not so grievous as to cause death in that manner. Indeed, as enthusiastic as the goblins could become, it was very seldom that they did any real damage. Never had their inhibitions been removed so far as to actually kill anything.

Jareth probed the creature's body magically, and learned nothing to contradict his idea. The dog's injuries had not been the cause of his death.

Jareth set his jaw. Something would definitely have to be done about this. He stood up and ordered the goblins to bury the body - it had told him all it could.

It took him almost an hour to track down the one he really needed to speak with - the Labyrinth itself. By the time he finally cornered its manifestation in the hedge mazes, his temper was rapidly deteriorating. It was even trying to _avoid_ him!

"May I ask," he began frostily, "The reason for this charade? This - this hide-and-seek?"

The old man slowly turned to face him. It was the same wise man who had given Sarah the enigmatic advice all those years ago - the manifestation of the Labyrinth itself.

It would have been wrong to say the solemn dignified entity wore a smirk, but his aspect was certainly most self-satisfied. His hat, on the other hand, had a very definite smirk. It emitted something suspiciously like a laugh. It never did much care for any of the kings of the labyrinth.

It took all of Jareth's considerable self control not to slam his fist into something - the hat, for one, or the nearby hedge in a pinch. His eyes closed, he forced himself to breathe evenly, and spoke to the entity he supposedly ruled.

"You killed it. _Killed_ it."

The old man nodded placidly. "Yes."

Jareth's eyes flew open as his temper rose to its heights. "That is absolutely unacceptable! Mortals are to attempt to thread the labyrinth _unharmed_ while their thirteen hours hold. The girl's dog is not an exception, and the girl herself is hardly _unharmed_!" His voice rose with every sentence until he was very nearly shouting. And Jareth despised shouting. He collected himself with an effort.

The old man waited patiently until Jareth ran out of steam. When he finally showed signs of slowing, the Labyrinth sat down on a bench which formed itself out of one wall for his convenience.

"Your Majesty," he began in his slow, wheezing voice. The hat muttered something that sounded suspiciously like an insult, but Jareth pointedly ignored it. "The girl should not be here. The dog... was a necessary casualty of her presence."

Jareth couldn't believe his ears. "Shouldn't be here?" he incredulously repeated. "It's hardly your place to decide who _shouldn't be here_."

The old man continued to act infuriatingly calm in the face of his monarch's show of displeasure. "Naturally not," he wheezed quietly. "But should you choose to break basic rules of your own kingdom, there are perfectly justified consequences."

Jareth gritted his teeth. "There is nothing wrong with someone returning to the Labyrinth."

"That is not... to what I am referring, Your Majesty," he continued, speaking slowly, as if with an effort. "You know this. She wished no one away, you issued no proper challenge, and you-"

He was cut off as Jareth turned to face him squarely again, the King's face cold and his eyes glittering with suppressed rage. Jareth rarely lost his temper - he much preferred subtleties and trick. However, as he wasn't entirely easy in his mind about his own decision, he couldn't let anyone else question it.

"My decisions are my own to make," he replied venomously. "You cannot reverse the dog's fate, but you can _and will_ prevent any further harm visiting upon the girl. Is that in any way unclear?"

The hat had finally had enough of this, and it hotly began: "I'll tell you what's unclear, you-"

Jareth glared viciously at the hat through narrowed eyes and it cut off its own stream of ranting out of a newly developed sense of self preservation. While the main part of Jareth's ire was diverted, the old man spoke again. "The girl does not belong here. However, I will no longer direct my displeasure to the girl. She will not be harmed again, but she will remain unwelcome. Do not forget this."

Jareth turned his narrowed gaze back to the Labyrinth, thinking furiously. Last time, the Labyrinth had positively adored the girl - she had given it her ring, and been helped throughout the rest of the maze. That, and the girl's resourcefulness and determination, was the reason she had had even a chance of making it through the Labyrinth. To find that it suddenly shunned her was disconcerting, to say the least. Something was badly wrong, but... he needed more time to figure things out.

"It isn't the girl's choice to be here," Jareth agreed, admitting to his own role in the situation. "That will be satisfactory."

He turned on his heel and left the clearing, to the strident mockery of the hat. "You sure told him! You really gave it to him, what a sucker, what a - hey, you aren't asleep already?"

* * *

When Jareth reappeared in his throne room, all he wanted to do was down a lot of ale, kick some goblins, collapse and forget about the situation.

It turned out, however, that circumstances would not permit him to be so indulgent quite yet. There were many, many things Jareth could have said he did not feel up to dealing with just then, but the Ruler of the Underground would have been extremely high on the list.

The Underground consisted of thousands of kingdoms, each populated by various life forms, each one possessing great longevity. The Labyrinth was a sort of gateway between the Underground and other worlds. Once a mortal passed through the Labyrinth, they became a denizen of the Underground - unless, of course, that mortal happened to solve the labyrinth in the allotted time. Such, however, was a very rare occasion. It had, in fact, only happened once in Jareth's lifetime - an event which had proved to be difficult to live down.

The Ruler of the Underground had no kingdom, but rather passed through the other kingdoms, inspecting them and solving issues between borders. Every inhabitant and their sovereigns were subject to the Ruler and his word, and he could channel magical power from any number of sources and overpower anyone or anything without effort. It was his role to ensure that relations between countries and other worlds were well, and that the sovereigns weren't abusing their power. Definitely not something Jareth had the mental strength to deal with now.

The Ruler was waiting in Jareth's throne room. He had taken on the appearance of a short, unassuming blond-haired human, but Jareth recognized him instantly.

"Your Excellency," he acknowledged slowly. Oh, gods, what had he done to deserve _this_? "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" His sarcasm seeped through into his tone of voice.

"Your Majesty," he returned courteously. "I trust you are well?"

"Very well, thank you," he lied. "Can I offer you anything?"

"No, thank you, that's not why I am here." He paused, then thankfully came straight to the point. "I heard you have taken a mortal in violation of the terms upon which your kingdom is built?"

Jareth politely refrained from giving into the need to kick something. He nodded stiffly. "I have brought a mortal who neither wished to come nor wished for another to do so, yes." The admission hurt. Damn it all to hell!

"Jareth..." he dropped the formal tone grinned at Jareth, settling onto Jareth's throne. Wonderful. Now, not only would he be receiving a formal lecture, he'd be berated in the guise of friendship now. "It's that pretty wench from several years ago, isn't it?"

Jareth's eyes reduced to slits again. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Drake," he said, pointedly using the man's first name. "Would you mind specifying the purpose of your visit?"

"Well, it is about time you found a girl..." he drawled, meaning only to tease his friend, but stopped and changed tactics at the undeniably livid look on Jareth's face. "Jareth, you're violating basic rules of your own kingdom. Think about the consequences of this for yourself!" When Jareth appeared unmoved, Drake frowned. "What affects the Labyrinth affects the entire Underground. This is very much my business. Do think a little more on the possible consequences of continuing down this path, Jareth."

Jareth continued to stare coldly at the man sitting in his throne. "Have you a specific request or do you wish to merely chide me?"

Drake shook his head. "I only want you to see a little sense. Even if you're infatuated with the girl, there are easier ways of wooing a lady than abducting her."

"Infatuated with-?" Jareth repeated incredulously, only to have Drake disappear in front of him, abruptly terminating the visit. Wonderful... just wonderful.

Now thoroughly irked by his day, Jareth collapsed in his throne and demanded ale from the empty room, knowing someone would hear and deliver. He struggled not to answer the very question which had been put to him so many times - _why_. He tried very hard not to follow everyone else's example in questioning his own actions. He was right, wasn't he? He was the Goblin King, damn it! The girl had beaten him and caused his reputation and the reputation of his kingdom to be put into question by every friend, enemy, and associate he had. This was his only way of righting the matter... in view of such a serious situation, was it so wrong to lure a girl back into his kingdom, even if she hadn't broken any of his rules? A girl who didn't even belong in her own world?

One by one, the goblins trickled back into the room, sensing Jareth's mood and staying quiet. As he was handed a large tankard of ale, Jareth lost the battle he was fighting with himself and admitted that he was bitter. No one had beaten the Labyrinth under his rule before, and he was taking it too personally. But... infatuated? True, she captured his interest in a way no other woman had. Indeed, she had been in his thoughts a lot. What he had offered, how she had rejected it without even thinking... blind, unheeding cruelty... Yes, he rather liked that about her - yes, she was quite pretty - even more so now than before... but damned if he actually _cared_ about the mortal girl...!


	4. Chapter 4

Sarah felt the earth rattle around her and heard the sound of rocks falling further down the tunnel. Beginning to panic, blind in the enclosed confines, she tried to stand up and move away from the direction of the sound. But she had gotten no further than two paces before her outstretched foot encountered a solid wall. She grunted at the impact and winced as another shower of rocks fell from the roof.

She felt along the wall with which she had just collided, and realized it was a dead end. Turning back the way she'd come, another whimper escaped her as more rocks showered from above. Almost ready to sink to her knees and give up once again, the rumblings in the earth suddenly stopped and silenced reigned in the cave. For a long minute, all she could hear was the fierce thumping of her heart and her own heavy breathing.

Then, gradually at first, she heard the chattering start up again. It grew louder and more defined, with the little creatures scurrying back into the tunnel near her. As they accumulated, Sarah noticed that their eyes emitted a soft glow - barely noticeable at first, but eventually the entire tunnel was bathed in a dim light.

Sarah straightened up, noting the ample room for her to stand upright. Grinning somewhat incautiously, she couldn't remember the last time she'd been so glad to see other living creatures. She reached out her hand to trail along the tunnel walls, and began to walk downwards, away from the dead end. Recalling the worm's directions from the surface, she smiled and dared to hope that there was, after all, a way through everything - if she had the perseverance and wit to find it.

Sarah ended up walking for quite a while, soon growing impatient with the endless, unchanging tunnel walls. Mindful of the tricks the Labyrinth had played on her last time, she was walking the whole way with her hand on the side of the tunnel. Even though she could see passably well, she wasn't about to miss a disguised opening somewhere. However, even without a watch, she was eventually sure that she'd gone over an hour without a change in the scenery. Frustrated by what appeared to be another puzzle or trick already, she stopped to rest her legs and catch her breath. She slid down against one of the tunnel walls and rested against it, trying not to think too much about where she was or how she could possibly get out of it.

Too many darn tunnels in her life recently, and that was a fact. She couldn't believe how completely her life had turned around in few hours - was she honestly sitting in a tunnel in the Underground, trying to beat the system in order to escape from it once more? Could she ever truly escape? What would her family, especially her little brother, think if they never saw her again? Was it all some twisted, horrible fantasy of her own invention - had she had _that_ much tequila?

How long she stayed there she couldn't be certain, but after a while, she began to notice that there were creatures around chattering to themselves and each other with words that were almost intelligible. They were muttering and slurring and making up many new words, but if she listened hard enough, she could nearly understand them. Listening hard, she discerned the heavily slurred word "girl" and realized they must be speaking of her.

"The fraggin gurl, the gurl, the gurl!" one was crying.

"Is not-a here, not here, come by and get the food rook" chattered another.

"The gurl, where is going, up down, next to the sound?"

"Up, no way is not going to the up, rook come stop crittin around!" said a third voice.

Driven by desperation, Sarah decided to address them. "Please - any of you - do you know the way out of here?"

A few of them stopped what they were doing and looked at her, the glow from their eyes centered on her. The rest continued their chattering: "Leave alone, gone today, gone next day, leave alone!"

"Please?" she pleaded to those who paid her attention.

One cocked its head and spewed forth a flood of nonsense which left Sarah completely lost. She looked helplessly at the other creatures. "I need to know the way out of here... please, can you help me?"

"The fraggin food, the food is-a here, we go now," one replied, speaking slightly slower. "We got-a go now but, she say please, say please! Never no one say please, I help you."

"You'll - help me?" Sarah asked, a note of hope catching in her voice.

The creature nodded and bounded off, looking back to see that she followed. It lead her on a wild path down the tunnel, heedless of other creatures or things that happened to obstruct the way. It chattered wildly to her all the while but Sarah could only hear a quarter of it, let alone understand it. However, none of that mattered when the creature suddenly stopped and climbed up the sides of the tunnel to the top and shoved on the roof. The light outside, dim as it was, was better than that in the tunnel. She almost cried with relief as she turned and thanked the creature.

"You say please help, I help, shucks, it a nice gurl. Pandy hood over at the next wangle but food for me, I help to see gurl later."

She grinned - why had she expected it to make any sense? - and waved as the creature hurried off. She hoisted herself up out of the tunnel to see the world outside. She had emerged in the overhang of a cliff. Steep rock walls on one side of her prevented her from even thinking of going that way. Her gaze turned away to rest on a large, circular castle built of creamy sandstone, with attractive turrets and rounded doors. The moon illuminated the scene and the castle practically glowed. There was no moat and nothing that looked like battlements. All in all, it was quite a pleasing sight.

That is, pleasing until Sarah realized that it bore absolutely no resemblance to the castle of her memory from seven years ago. It had a few pennants fluttering in the breeze, but was otherwise very still. No goblins, no dogs, no chickens - nothing. This couldn't be the right castle. If this was Jareth's way of thoroughly disorienting her... it was working.

Biting back a groan from all her bruises and cuts, she stood up and headed towards the castle. It probably wasn't beyond him to change the appearance of his castle, just to throw her off. She approached the castle gate - which was more like a huge door than a gate - and it smoothly slid open for her. Startled, she took a few steps back and looked around in vain for the source of the movement. There was no one around; the door appeared to have opened of its own volition. Swallowing some serious misgivings, Sarah took a few hesitant steps over the threshold.

The door quietly shut behind her. The corridor inside was long and bare; save for the occasional door leading off to both sides, there was nothing to interrupt the expanse of sandstone except occasional brackets to hold flaming torches. No tapestries, no windows, and nothing one would expect to find in the interior of a castle. Turning around to inspect the closed door, Sarah found no handle and no indication that the door could be opened from this side. Shrugging, mostly resigned to whatever awaited her within, she began to walk down the hall.

Her footsteps echoed eerily in the unnatural quiet. Save for the occasional lit torch with swirling, unreadable inscriptions on it, there was no sign that the castle had been used by anyone since it was built. It was immaculate, without the least flaw or speck of dust, but there was nothing to break the monotony of the empty corridor. Every door was closed, and she was loath to try to open one. She kept continuing down the straight hall until she reached the end of it, many minutes later. It ended in a pair of magnificent doors of polished wood with intricate symbols carved in relief. They were firmly shut.

Sarah laid her hand on the handle of the door on the right, intending to pull it open. The stone was cool to the touch, soothing and light against her still-stinging hands. However, the stone didn't move an inch in response to her pull, and Sarah decided against expending too much strength or time on it. She turned from the door to the corridor on her left. It was blocked by a door standing slightly ajar - the first abnormality in the pristine castle she had seen so far. With a mental shrug, she moved through it - only to have the door close behind her with a startling bang.

She jumped in surprise and then turned sharply as she noticed movement in the corner of her vision. Something slithered away from her, something that looked like it was moving in the sandstone of the wall. The motion stopped moments after her attention focused on it, but it reminded her unpleasantly of the time that goblins infested her parents' bedroom when she had invoked the words to wish away her brother. She laid her hand on the stone which had just rippled with movement and found it cool to the touch, and most definitely solid. She trailed her fingers along the wall, looking up at the corridor she'd just entered. It was long and curved off to her right, circling in the same direction as the outside walls had. There was another, smaller door on her left a few yards down. She moved towards it and attempted to open it, with no success. It was decorated in the same fashion as the others, with illegible script covering most of the surface.

Sarah tugged at the door several times before loosing her temper. She glared at it and attempted to kick it down, with no success. Yelling a few choice invectives at it, she turned away and glared down the long corridor. With the distinct feeling that she was being herded somewhere, she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down and started down it.

As she walked down the long corridor, she carefully scanned the walls for any break, no matter how small, any path that might lead in another direction, or any door that might be unlocked. Between the doors slamming behind her and the lack of multiple paths in the castle, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being directed down a one-way path. She didn't want to guess what it might be leading her towards.

Encountering a few more doors, she energetically attempted to break them down or force them open, all with no success. She diligently kept an eye out for any deviations in the walls, mindful of her first lesson in the Labyrinth - things are not always what they seem. For all that, she was still feeling herded and helpless when another door loomed on her left - one quite different from the rest. No carvings, no heavy panels, and no pretentious-looking handle; just an ordinary wooden door set in the sandstone wall with an ordinary doorknob, such a one as she might find in any normal, ordinary house. She tried the knob. It was unlocked, miraculously.

Smiling in relief, she pushed the door open and peered into the dark room beyond the door. It was dimly lit by a set of lamps inside, a contrast to the flaming torches in the corridor. She allowed her eyes to adjust before cautiously poking her head inside the door, trying to make out all the details. It seemed to be a library of sorts, with a table, couches, and two walls filled with books up to the ceiling, which was about ten feet high.

Pleased with her discovery, Sarah propped open the door with the rug at her feet, not trusting the door to stay unlocked behind her. She approached the shelves and peered at the rows of books. Most of the books were written in an unrecognizable language or languages, some in characters that didn't even bear a resemblance to any script she'd ever seen before. After a few moments of searching, she found a shelf of books that looked to be in English, or at least bearing titles in the Roman alphabet. Most of them seemed to be either nonsense, made-up names, or perhaps written in a language completely different than any with which she was acquainted. There were certainly no titles she recognized off-hand.

She started by inspecting the titles that seemed a little more similar to English than others, and one volume caught her eye. It was handsomely bound in a rich red leather, with gold script curing around the spine, spelling "Gideon's Wainwright." The name jarred slightly at Sarah's memory, and she decided to take a look.

Sarah laid a finger on the spine of the book, and softly made as if to pull it off the shelf. But instead of falling docilely into her hands, the book sprung to life and jerked out of her reach. The entire shelf followed its lead, and before Sarah realized what was happening, books began to dive-bomb her.

"Dammit!" She reacted instinctively, cowering and covering her face with her arms. The books dive bombed her, relentlessly pecking - if books could even peck - and driving their spines into her. Backing up, she wildly flailed around until she bumped into the wall. Finding herself next to the table, she grabbed one of the lamps, and used it as a club to fend off the attacking books. The shade and the bulb were soon lying in pieces on the floor, but the post was sturdy and caught several books unaware. In response, the books drew off slightly and started to coordinate attacks - some coming to her right, others swooping in from the opposite direction while she was preoccupied.

When there was finally a lull in the books' aggressiveness, she caught her breath and looked around at the room, which was now littered with pages and covers, tattered and shredded. Normally an avid reader and fond of books, Sarah was faintly sickened by the sight, and she looked back up at the books still hovering in the air, just out of her range. Tearing up books was not Sarah's idea of fun, especially these who almost seemed sentient.

"OK," Sarah said, taking a deep breath. Feeling a bit silly addressing a bunch of flying, attacking books, she nevertheless continued. "Why are you doing this? I don't want to tear you all apart! Can't you see you're only hurting yourselves?" she asked pleadingly. Well, it was hurting her too, but only because she was already beaten and worn down by her previous adventures.

The book she had tried to take off the shelf first, Gideon's Wainwright, pulled slightly out of the crowd, and approached her, hovering inquisitively in the air. It seemed to be asking her something, although Sarah couldn't imagine what. "I didn't mean to hurt you," she said, trying to sound reassuring. "Only to see if you said anything."

The book shifted in the air slightly. Its cover opened, moving on its own, and several pages flipped open as though a wind were blowing through the room. They stopped on an open page with bold, black text in English.

**We guard this castle; it is our function for the moment. If outsiders approach, we attack.**

Sarah bit back her astonishment at the book's communication capabilities - this was, after all, the Underground. "I don't mean to do any harm here," she said, trying on a tentative smile. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to rip up your friends, I'll leave you all alone now..."

More pages started to turn. **We are grateful for your consideration. We will do no harm to you.**

Sarah smiled, genuinely now. "That's sweet of you, thank you." The book closed its cover and seemed to bob in the air, perhaps signaling accord. She carefully advanced out of the corner, quickly looking over the rest of the room. It soon became apparent that the door to the corridor was the only access in or out. She sighed, and headed back out of the door.

Behind her, the book hesitated in the air for a moment before following her. Sarah saw it as she straightened the rug and turned to allow the door to close. She looked up and smiled again. "Are you coming along with me?"

**You will encounter situations in which I may be of aid you, if you ask it of me.**

Sarah grinned and felt like hugging the book. "Wow... thank you so much, I really appreciate it."

Well, perhaps things weren't hopeless at all. She already had a friend to help her traverse the perils of the Labyrinth, and she was already in the castle. If her last visit here was any indication, she just might be on the short path to success.

She started back down the seemingly one-way corridor, feeling more confident with the book hovering behind her. She didn't really understand why it would chose to leave its place in the library - but on reflection, it was probably quite boring sitting on that shelf all day. And if the book was as intelligent as it seemed, it was more than likely tired of it. Come to think of it, she wouldn't actually have minded just staying in that library and reading away her thirteen hours - or however many were left - but not only would that most likely have been quite disastrous in the long run, it didn't seem like those books appreciated being 'read.'

The corridor continued to curve off to her right, and she followed it without bothering to be vigilant for flaws in the walls. If she was being herded somewhere, there was nothing she could do about it; she would just have to be careful.

At the end of the corridor was a small door fashioned out of rough black stone, uglier than the other doors thus far seen in the castle. When she was within roughly ten paces of from it, a smell of rotting meat reached her nostrils. She recoiled sharply, jumping back from the door. Something about that door suddenly and irrationally screamed danger to her.

She stopped in her tracks and considered turning back. She edged away, taking small steps, looking carefully over her shoulder, wondering why on earth she should be so afraid of this door. She briefly considered appealing to the book Gideon for information on the situation, but then the door moved. It slowly creaked open, and she whirled back around to face it, freezing in place.

With growing fear and dread, Sarah watched a shape crawl up from the pitch blackness that was behind the door. The shape entered into the corridor and rose to its full height, a good foot or two taller than Sarah. It appeared to be a human woman at first glace, with rich, brown skin, and hair exactly matching the black of the stone of the door, clothed in a voluminous black robe.

Then, with alarm, Sarah noticed its ears: black, furry protrusions rising from the top of its head like an animal. The creature started towards Sarah, giving her a glimpse of a sleek, furry, black tail rising from behind the creature: long and sinuous, vertical and flowing just like a cat's tail.

Sarah swallowed, wishing she had some kind of weapon, wondering if she could make a run for it. The creature had perfectly normal brown eyes, but it was grinning at Sarah maniacally, looking like nothing so much as a feline hunter, displaying a set of sharp gleaming teeth. Sarah finally unfroze and turned to bolt. But as she turned to face the corridor again, she saw just about the only person who, in her mind, could have possibly made the situation worse.

Jareth.


	5. Chapter 5

Jareth was still choosing to spend his time watching Sarah, despite Drake's warnings, and he didn't bother trying to justify that to himself. His eyes narrowed as he noted how those odd little creatures accepted Sarah into their domain. She was at it again, making friends, he thought scathingly. At least the old man had listened to him, after all, and stopped trying to kill her - the earthquake could have been much worse. He decided he was measurably pleased with the Labyrinth's eventual cooperation. This matter might actually work out after all, if he was careful. Then - wait. Oh wait. She was going the wrong direction. She was going to that sandstone castle... She had actually spoken with that blasted worm this time, and, as was its role, it had given her directions to the wrong castle.

Disbelievingly, he watched her walk straight through the gate - how foolish could mortals be? Every time he thought he had seen the worst of it... There was absolutely no way she could have mistaken the sandstone castle for his own castle. Either she was utterly stupid, or utterly desperate. He doubted that she realized that she had just walked into the lair of a powerful monster which was not controlled by the Labyrinth proper. Perhaps she thought to get away from Jareth's power, but even so, she wouldn't last long in there.

He had no choice, none at all. His disappeared from his throne room and reappeared in that creature's lair, far closer to her than he could ever be comfortable with.

"Sarah, you should not be here."

Sarah's thoughts of flight came screeching to an abrupt halt. She stared at the Goblin King in disbelief. She took a few steps away from him, towards the feline creature standing in front of the door that was giving off such an unpleasant aura. Sarah turned halfway around, facing both the creature and Jareth, her back to neither. This could not be a good situation.

The creature gave a small smirk in Jareth's direction and spoke to him. "_Dear_ Jareth. It's so lovely to see you again."

Jareth glowered at her, leaning against the stone wall behind him, with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Mortenna," he stated coldly. "I see you're still alive, despite my best efforts to the contrary."

The creature called Mortenna flicked her tail, licked her lips, and looked away from Jareth towards Sarah, choosing not to reply to him. "Pay him no heed, dear girl. You have reached the end of the Labyrinth, you need only look past Jareth's tricks here and this door shall lead you home."

Sarah raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Just like that?"

Mortenna smiled and nodded, a gleam in her brown eyes. "You must overcome your irrational fear of this door, fear placed in your mind by his magic."

Jareth coughed in deliberate contempt, and Sarah shook her head slightly. This, the way home, found so soon and so easily? That was much too good to be true. "And why should you care if I get out of here or not?"

The tail twitched again. "Jareth's loss is my gain, love." She carefully stepped aside and gestured at the door. "I live to see him fail."

"Sarah," said Jareth, finally deigning to speak to her. "This is not my castle, and that door will not lead you home. It leads to Mortenna's realm, not your world."

Mortenna gave Sarah a knowing grin. "That's what he wants you to think, of course."

"Does this _look_ like my castle?" asked Jareth with a note of impatience.

Sarah turned again to the Goblin King, a small frown on her face. "I just assumed you could change its shape and appearance at your whim."

Jareth stared at her flatly. "It's stone and mortar. Such elements are not manipulated except at high cost and much labor." He spoke as if to an infant incapable of complex thinking.

Sarah huffed out her breath, irritated by his patronizing tone. "How was I supposed to know that? And why am I supposed to believe you? Have you ever told me the truth about anything?"

"I never lie, Sarah," Jareth said in a slightly pained tone. "It is against the code of my people."

Mortenna gave a small snort in reply. "What they call 'manipulating the truth slightly' is what everyone else calls lying, Sarah. Now, how much more time is it necessary to waste on him?"

Sarah lifted her shoulders in a half shrug and turned to address the creature. "It seems incredibly unlikely that this could be the end of the Labyrinth. Last time..." She trailed off, not wishing to explain the details of her first adventure. She certainly wouldn't put it past the Goblin King to change everything about his maze completely - but not everything had been changed. The outside walls were the same, the worm was the same, the rocks and trees even looked the same. And that door _did_ seem awfully scary. Even if that was just Jareth's enchantment, Sarah couldn't bring herself to trust this semi-human thing with an evil gleam in its eyes.

"Things aren't always what they seem in this place, now are they?" Mortenna asked, a wide smile creeping onto her face.

Sarah narrowed her eyes but nodded to concede the point.

"Sarah," spoke up Jareth, his tone picking up a note of something besides condescension - impatience, probably. "Mortenna is an ancient enemy of the Labyrinth. She lives to trap unsuspecting creatures in her realm - have you attempted to leave this castle? It is not possible. If you do not accept my help, you are doomed to remain here."

Mortenna just shrugged gracefully. "You must decide which of us to trust, young one."

Sarah pursed her lips and shifted her weight to the back of her heels to consider the situation. In truth, she trusted neither being. Definitely not Jareth, the man who had threatened to turn Toby into a goblin, and now threatened her with... something, she still wasn't sure what. Didn't _want_ to know what. But was this half-human creature with the wicked smile and uncertain intentions really trustworthy either? Sarah didn't know, and she didn't have enough information to decide something that seemed to be so important.

The dilemma struck her as familiar, in a way. These two contradictory beings and their reparte reminded her of the door guardians - one of whom always told the truth, and one of whom always lied. Unfortunately, Jareth and Mortenna were not bound by any such constraints, and would gladly tell the truth or lie to suit their purposes. There was no trick question she could neatly pose to solve the riddle and take the right door.

Frustrated, she shifted her gaze around the corridor, desperately seeking some kind of clue to help her, something aside from the two unfriendly entities staring at her. Her gaze landed on the book hovering behind her, and suddenly an idea came to her. It had come from this castle, hadn't it? And it had offered her aid, hadn't it?

"Gideon," she said quietly, turning her back on both Jareth and Mortenna. "Can you help me? Whose castle is this?" If it was the end of the Labyrinth, it should be Jareth's castle; but if Jareth was telling the truth, it would be Mortenna's - or someone else's entirely.

She heard a sharp intake of breath behind her, but ignored it as the pages of the book flipped open to reveal its bold script.

**I will aid you, though it may mean going against my creator. This castle is controlled by the Lady Mortenna. I would not enter the door, were I you.**

Sarah sucked in her breath, surprised, but decided to believe her new-found friend. She looked back up and turned to Jareth. He was still leaning against the wall, his arms crossed and a haughty, bored expression on his face. She still didn't like him or trust him, but she would chance his labyrinth again, rather than submit to whatever fate Mortenna had in store for her. She gave Jareth a tight nod, and said, "All right, I'll accept your-"

She was interrupted by a screech from Mortenna. Sarah broke off her sentence and turned abruptly, just in time to see her point a hand towards Sarah and release a blast of searing white energy. It was, however, not aimed at Sarah. Sarah realized this just in time, and took a quick step back to snatch the book behind her out of the way of the path of the bolt.

Unfortunately, she was not quick enough. Instead of scorching the book, the blast hit her in the middle of her left arm.

Sarah let out a shriek and dropped the book, clutching her arm to her chest. An unbearable burning sensation immediately started making its way up her entire arm, paralyzing it. And damn, it _hurt_.

Through all her grimacing and cursing, Sarah managed to catch the argument starting again between Jareth and Mortenna as her screeches at the book echoed down the hall.

"You have no right to harm her," Jareth was saying. He had straightened up and taken a few steps away from the wall, facing Mortenna, anger in every line of his figure. Not a hint of the bored expression remained.

Mortenna turned her baleful glare on Jareth, her tail twitching powerfully behind her. "If your precious girl hadn't intervened, she wouldn't have been harmed."

Jareth's glare was no less firm. "Her actions do not excuse yours. Heal her, now, before I have you defending your actions in front of the Ruler."

"As though your actions are spotless," she snarled in reply. Nevertheless, she waved her hand in Sarah's direction. Sarah, almost on her knees from the pain, felt her arm go numb. She looked down to see the burnt flesh melting away into flawless skin - not even the scrapes and cuts that had been there before remained. Feeling and nerves returned smoothly and painlessly.

Sarah relaxed slightly, but picked up Gideon again to clutch it fiercely. She gave Mortenna a hasty thank-you, but her only answer was a grimace and a low hiss. Sarah shuddered at the smoldering look in her eyes, and faced Jareth, who had returned to lounging against the wall with the appearance of being totally indifferent to the world around him.

"What would she do to me if I went through that door?" Sarah asked him, curiosity getting the better of her.

"Consume your essence," replied Jareth dispassionately.

Sarah choked. "Consume my... you mean, eat me?"

Jareth just continued to look at her in silence. From her position in front of the door, Mortenna had her hands balled into fists, her face twisted into a cruel smile. "One must survive somehow."

Sarah raised an unbelieving eyebrow. "You have to live by eating people?"

"She eats anything she can get her paws on," Jareth answered when Mortenna remained silent. "Insects, goblins, humans, immortals. Not the flesh, mind you, but the essence. You would still be alive, but it may not be a life worth living."

"Why... why do you allow her to stay here then?"

Jareth shrugged, a fluid movement that spoke of both grace and strength, all the while preserving his indifference. "The Labyrinth allows her to persist. There are many gateways to her realm, and I have no control over them. This is but one, and it only extends-"

Sarah shook her head to cut him off, not really ready to appreciate a lecture on the way gateways between realms worked. She was about to suggest they leave when another thought occurred to her. "Wait, I thought you said she wasn't allowed to harm me?"

Jareth began again, in his bored tone of voice. "According to a covenant made between her mother's great-uncle and the leader of the-"

Sarah took that as a long way to say 'yes' and interrupted him. "OK, but isn't eating me a bit, well, harmful? How is she allowed to trick me into going through that door then?"

Jareth sniffed, expressing his disdain for the question. "Once you pass into her realm, no outside covenants can apply. International protection only extends so far, especially when-"

Sarah opened her mouth to interject something again, but he finally lost patience with her. "Sarah, if you want me to keep answering your questions, you must stop interrupting me."

She flushed, and nodded. He continued. "International protection can only extend so far, especially when the realm is as difficult to enter or leave as hers is. If you go through that door of your own free will, you have invited harm upon yourself, and she is immune to any consequences."

This time she waited a few seconds to be sure he was finished speaking. "It's hardly my 'own free will' when I'm trapped in a castle I can't leave, don't you think?"

Jareth narrowed his eyes. "No covenant is perfect, Sarah."

She bit her lip to keep from laughing. His tone was so superior, and he acted as though he knew everything about everything, but nothing in this place stood up to her logic. Once again, she felt confidence flowing back into her - she could handle this.

Mortenna spoke again, her voice noticeably calmer and her self-assured, knowing smile back in place. "Uncle Peletus was forced into signing the covenant, but successive generations of my people have persevered in our lifestyle. It is, however, greatly threatened by the likes of him," Mortenna finished vehemently, glaring at Jareth.

Sarah took a moment to pity Mortenna, a being that had no choice but to exist on the demise - if only a semi-demise - of others. But then she shrugged mentally, not willing to volunteer herself to sustain the creature's lifestyle. She turned once more to Jareth with the suggestion that they leave on her lips, but he was already turning his back on Mortenna and their argument.

Jareth escorted Sarah back the way she came, through the curving sandstone corridors and back along the main hall leading to the entrance. He walked several paces ahead of her, his stride brisk, his distant manner back in spades. Sarah was physically and emotionally exhausted from the last few hours - just how many hours had it been, anyway? - and didn't really have the energy to try to speak to him. When they reached the gate that had shut her in the castle in the first place, Jareth gestured at it and it swung open soundlessly. He stepped through, Sarah trailing in his wake.

She shivered. That had been one scary castle. She'd rather go to the Bog of Eternal Stench than face that horrible thing again. She chuckled as a funny thought occurred to her - and almost ran right into Jareth.

He had stopped walking and was looking at her with an eyebrow raised. She hastily took a few steps back to put some distance between them.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

Sarah blinked, unaware that she had laughed out loud. Oops. "I was just thinking," she explained, growing embarrassed, "that it would be a much better threat to say you would throw people in Mortenna's castle rather than the bog."

He didn't laugh, just kept looking at her as though she were crazy.

She stared at the ground, her face growing red. She was about to speak again when, without warning, he disappeared.

"So much for that," she said aloud to no one, somewhat indignant at his abrupt departure, but mostly relieved that she didn't have to deal with him anymore. A movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she turned to find Gideon still hovering in the air. A smile spread over her face as she looked at the book.

"And thanks to you too," she said. "Without you, I never would have made it out of that mess." She considered briefly before continuing. "I don't suppose you know the way through this Labyrinth?"

The book, despite having no head to shake, made a negative gesture in the air.

"Ah well," said Sarah, "That's only to be expected. Still, I found my way through once, I can do it again."

In the dim light, she regarded her surroundings. The reason for her having entered the castle in the first place became apparent - it was situated in a narrow plain, steep cliffs on one side and dense forest covering the other. Not having enjoyed her previous experience in the forest of the Labyrinth, she frowned unhappily at it and looked back to the tunnel exit she had first come through. To her mild surprise, it was still there - an uncovered hole in the ground leading into pitch blackness. She walked over to it, and idly kicked some dirt from around the rim into the opening. She wasn't much happier with the idea of re-entering the tunnel than returning to the forest.

She jumped back quickly when the dislodged dirt prompted several of the little creature things to poke their heads up and chitter angrily at her. "Sorry," she muttered without really meaning it. She backed away from the hole, towards the cliffs only a few strides away. She gazed up at them, wondering if it would be possible to climb them... but she wasn't much of a rock climber in the best of circumstances, and these cliffs were large and formidable.

She sighed, and had just resigned herself to going back into the forest when another little creature popped out of the hole near her feet. No sooner had she seen it than it commenced its chatter.

"I newit, newit, the gurl is a-back, wannid a way out but now a-seekin the way in! I say I help to see gurl later."

Sarah stared at it, bemused. "I'm not really seeking the way back in," she said, hoping to have understood the creature correctly. "But now that you mention it..."

"Gurl won't stay in all the time, the wol on the side bangs not fun. But ize unnerstanin."

She raised an eyebrow. Wol on the side bang? "Are there, perhaps, other places this tunnel leads?"

It cocked what passed for its head to the side. "Tunnel, tunnel, always tunnel, it not no tunnel! But the mons do leads asparts you be wantin to go."

She nodded as though she understood what he just said, but looked helplessly toward Gideon.

**I believe the answer to your question was 'yes'.**

Hmmm, how helpful. She refrained - just barely - from rolling her eyes and tried to remember what question she'd asked...

"Oh! Hey, do you think you could show me the way to the castle?"

"Gurl is at cassul. I leave gurl at cassul."

"No, please, I mean the castle at the center of the Labyrinth."

The creature started hopped up and down on one foot at that - whether out of wrath or hyperactivity, she couldn't tell. It managed a reply all the same. "Centerz cassul danger, jodias go no near centerz cassul."

That meant... it knew where the castle was, but didn't want to go there? Sarah bit her lip, her face falling. The creature understood human emotions well enough, for it stopped hopping about and spoke in an earnest tone of voice. "Still if gurl say please..."

"Oh, please! can you take us there?"

"Jodias show gurl center's cassul, but no go with, stay in mons where mice mend ears."

Sarah smiled, delighted despite her inability to understand half of what the creature was saying. "Oh, thank you. So, your name, it's Jodias?"

The creature hopped into the tunnel, muffling its words, but the reply sounded affirmative to her. She crawled in after it, into the black darkness. She could see the creature's glowing eyes slightly in front of her.

"I'm Sarah. Pleased to meet you," she offered with a smile, wondering if polite conventions were all one needed to impress people in the Labyrinth. It appeared so, since Jodias began chattering at her in a much more excited pitch.

Sarah followed Jodias as it set off down the tunnel, letting its words flow over her without making the effort to understand them. She could only hope she was _finally_ on the right track, and being led to the right castle.


	6. Chapter 6

Approximately half an hour later, Sarah and Jodias surfaced in another section of the Labyrinth. They were in a hedge maze somewhat similar to the one she had seen before. The main difference was that the bushes forming the hedge were blooming in millions of tiny flowers, a bright, vivid yellow. They were in a courtyard of sorts, with a fountain of nymphs and fauns spouting water in a high arc. There were several elegant marble benches along the edge, and the paths were laid with pungent-smelling bark. Light filtered through from somewhere - it looked like moonlight, but Sarah couldn't see anything like a moon in the sky.

Sarah also couldn't see a castle around anywhere. She peered down at Jodias, who was still hanging around the tunnel's exit. "I thought you said we were going to the castle at the center of the Labyrinth?"

"Sarah close to center's cassul. Not a fun place, jodias no go. S'off limits."

Sarah frowned. "But I don't see a castle anywhere."

The creature made an impatient noise in its throat. "Sarah not looking right, fraggedy cassul hiding lots, look to the right before you leave! Time to go noll on the rock-rock, jodias glad to help the sarah but no go to cassul!" And with that, the creature dove back into the tunnel, pulled a slab over the entrance, and disappeared.

Sarah sucked in a frustrated breath. "I'm 'not looking right'! What's that supposed to mean?"

Gideon rose a few feet into the air, above the tops of the hedges, before descending to give her an answer. **The castle is hidden from us by a spell of illusion, if I conjecture accurately. I propose we follow the advice: "Look to the right before you leave."**

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "But leave in which direction?" There were four paths leading out of the courtyard area.

The book was silent. Not, Sarah amended her thoughts, that it ever made any noise, but that it stayed closed instead of trying to answer her question.

"Oh well," said Sarah with a small lift of her shoulders. "I guess we just pick a direction and go with it." Having decided that much, she chose the path leading in the direction she was facing.

She soon had cause to be very thankful for Jodias's advice - had she not been walking slowly, paying careful attention to what was on her right, she would never have noticed the castle blink into existence for a few seconds. Stopping short, she retraced her steps, but the vision did not appear again. She glared at the space where the castle had been, gritted her teeth, and continued on her way to look for a path to her right, in the direction she hoped was correct.

To her surprise and relief, it took her but a few paces to find a way out of the hedge maze - an imposing iron gate, its doors standing open. Through it, all she saw was an empty plain of dying brown grass and dwarf shrubs. Still certain that the castle she'd seen was this way, she took the few steps to the gate.

A man emerged abruptly from the hedge to her right, stepping through what looked like solid brush. He had brilliant blond hair and jet black eyes. He was dressed in expensive-looking beige robes that hung gracefully from his figure, and bright pink socks that matched nothing and stood out garishly. Sarah stared rudely.

He spied her, and his face lit up in a warm smile, making him look quite handsome. "Sarah!" He strode toward her, extending his hand. Not at all pleased with the interruption, she eyed him doubtfully but took the proffered hand, slightly embarassed for no reason she could articulate.

"I'm so glad I finally caught you. The Labyrinth - well, it's not in a cooperative mood today." His handshake was firm, capable. His hands felt soft and smooth. He continued without giving her a chance to reply. "Even though these aren't the best of circumstances, it's very good to see you again."

Sarah took a step back in shock, gaping at this strange man in front of her. She'd never met him before in her life! He was regarding her calmly, seemingly unaware of the effect his words had on her. She echoed his words for lack of anything intelligent to say. "It's nice to see me _again_?"

A small smile played about his lips, as though he were amused by something. "Ah yes, you wouldn't recognize me... try again. The eyes, I believe, are the same."

Still bewildered, she looked into his unreadable black eyes. Almost as though it were not her own thought, an old name passed through her mind... _Ludo_.

She quickly shoved that away as ridiculous, trying to suppress the feeling that it had not been her own thought at all. To her surprise, the man smiled his warm smile again and looked pleased. "Yes, that's right. You knew me very well as Ludo."

That was, Sarah thought, too much information to take in. Ludo was a blond man with garish socks? Yeah, right! He... what on earth was going on?

"I'm sorry to come to you like this, Sarah, but this situation is becoming graver by the day."

She was still gaping at him. This man was trying to say he was her old friend Ludo - her large, hairy, and rather slow thinking friend. Passing over his last sentence, she asked, "What on earth are you doing here?"

He gestured to a bench just outside of the hedge which Sarah was sure had not been there before. "If you want the full story, it might take a while."

He sat down and crossed his legs elegantly, showing off a pair of very nice black suede shoes, although the pink socks ruined the effect. Having seated himself, he looked up at her, clearly expecting her to join him. She hesitated a few seconds before sitting down, careful not to touch him. Ludo had had her full trust, but this... this was beyond what she had come to expect, even in this place.

"The Underground is not like your world, Sarah; the land is as alive as we are, and we rule it only by mutual agreement..."

"We?" Sarah asked, seizing on the pronoun. Was this Jareth in disguise?

The man brought his hand to smother a laugh. "I assure you, I am not Jareth." Whoa, could he read her mind? "No, I am indeed your friend Ludo. However, that was no more my true form than this is."

"Then what," Sarah said, taken aback, "you're a... a shape-shifter?"

"If you like," he replied mildly. "The ability to change my form comes with the position - I'm not even sure I remember what my original form is."

This was making less and less sense. "With what position?"

"I am the current Ruler of the Underground. That is not to say that the Underground is a single, united kingdom - far from it," he interjected with a forced laugh, "but that I am the head of a loose council formed of the rulers of each kingdom."

Sarah blinked. Definite information overload. "What on earth are you doing here now then?"

"It's my role to settle problems that cross the borders between different kingdoms. Jareth's Labyrinth is currently-"

Sarah interrupted him before he could fill her brain with yet more information. "Wait, I meant, what were you doing as that red monster thing being tormented by goblins? Or were you not the Ruler back then?"

Amusement played over his face again. He really was cute. Sarah blinked and tried to reign in her thoughts, without much success. "'Back then?' Sarah, a few years is nothing in the Underground. But yes, I certainly was the Ruler when we met - I've served almost a full term now. Like I said, that form was not my true one. As for what I was doing-"

Sarah's mouth fell open - again, although when had she had the opportunity to close it? she wondered - and she blurted out, "You serve terms?"

He nodded cheerfully, not seeming to mind being interrupted, unlike Jareth. "The Ruler of the Underground, as I said, is hardly a ruler in the traditional sense - the council chooses a Ruler from a large pool of candidates, for terms of a hundred years. Each term, a new one is chosen - or the old one is reconfirmed."

She gasped. "A hundred years! Just how old _are_ you?"

He waved his hand deprecatingly. "Quite young, considering the relative age of most Rulers. I barely reached my five hundredth year a few years ago."

Sarah stared at him. This was ridiculous - five hundred years was 'quite young'? "Who can be a candidate for Ruler?" she wondered out loud.

He shrugged. "Any of our race, provided they don't have a previous duty, such as ruling a kingdom. It's usually a younger sibling from a ruling family - there aren't too many pursuits available to us."

"Ah, so kingdoms pass from father to son," Sarah said, relieved at having at last found something normal about this system.

"Not at all!" was his indignant reply. "The kingdom passes to the eldest child, whether a son or a daughter. We do not have your society's peculiar notions about gender differences."

She blinked, but closed her mouth determinedly and decided not to be surprised by anything else that this man - that Ludo - would say. "OK," she said, "That makes sense. And you're more than five hundred years old and you've ruled the Underground for just less than a hundred years and you're Ludo."

She had been halfway joking - or just plain being sarcastic - but he nodded, seeming pleased at her grasp of the situation. "That's right. Now as for your other question, what I was doing when you were here last - I was provoking the goblins, to bait Jareth. We're old friends, and enjoy exerting ourselves to make the other's job as difficult as possible."

Sarah tried to imagine Jareth's reaction to someone deliberately provoking his goblins. "I bet he wasn't happy when he found out."

Ludo laughed. "I bet he wasn't either, but I never got to know, as you arrived before he did."

Sarah laughed along with him, despite not really seeing the humor in it, and then immediately frowned as another thought came to her. "If you're Jareth's friend, why did you help me through the Labyrinth?"

He shrugged gracefully. "I liked you. You were pretty, and I'd never seen someone with brown hair before."

She raised an eyebrow. "Are all of you blond?"

"Oh yes, blond or red-haired unless we dye it," he assured her. "You'll soon be known as the lady of the dark hair." He winked at her, but she wasn't quite sure about that. What was he talking about? He acted like she was going to be famous or something.

He continued as though she had not sidetracked him into a discussion of hair colors. "Anyway, I had a very nice time accompanying you, although I think Jareth still hasn't forgiven me."

She raised an eyebrow. "He's carried a grudge for so many years?"

"Oh, that's nothing! We had a fight once that lasted seventy-four years. It only ended when his father threatened to kill us both if we didn't end it."

Sarah gave a little disbelieving laugh. This was indeed a crazy world.

"Now, if you've no more questions, I'd like to explain why I've been trying to find you..."

Sarah smiled apologetically as he trailed off. "I'm sorry, I have a bad habit of interrupting people. Please, go on."

"It's not a problem," he assured her. "It doesn't upset me a bit. However," he said, the ghost of a frown appearing on his good-natured face, "the situation we are in is a problem. As you may have guessed from Jareth's attitude - or not, he can be hard to read - the Labyrinth is not happy that he brought you here. Oh, and he did bring you here, make no mistake - not every teenager finds their way through caves and tunnels into the Labyrinth. And it's not within the accepted use of his powers, you see - there was no wishing away. I'm not entirely sure why Jareth brought you... perhaps to regain a bit of the status he lost in the council when you defeated him."

He paused, but Sarah didn't comment, so he continued. "Has he by chance explained himself to you?"

Sarah gave a bark of laughter at that one. "Explain himself? Jareth?" she exclaimed.

Ludo smiled, but it quickly disappeared into a frown mirroring her own. "I don't like the way this looks... I don't like it at all," he muttered, staring off into the distance.

"However," he continued quickly, addressing her again, "we have more important things to worry about. The Labyrinth is quickly escalating out of Jareth's control - it doesn't like that you're here, and he refuses to send you back. I fear it may already be too late, but I'm not here to settle Jareth's fight with his own kingdom - no, I came because the Labyrinth is encroaching on its neighbors' lands, a force too powerful for their rulers to stop. I don't know what I can do, but I've got to go try - and Jareth can't be reasoned with right now. I do not know why, but I must do something."

He produced something out of a fold of his robe, and handed it to Sarah. It was a small charm in the shape of a bell. She took it wordlessly. "This will protect your life here - rules that should normally safeguard your passage here do not currently apply, as evidenced by the unfortunate death of your dog."

Tears came to Sarah's eyes at the mention of Merlin, but she quickly brushed them away, nodding at Ludo. "Thank you."

"As long as you wear that, you will not die in here. My magic is at least stronger than the Labyrinth's, even within its own domain... for now." He stood up abruptly, as though trying to distance himself from what he had been saying.

He gave her another warm smile, and changed topics. "I will try to mend the situation as I can. Right now, my duty is with the neighboring kingdoms, but should things grow too dangerous, I will get you out of here myself. I don't have the right to transport anyone out of the Underground, but perhaps things will improve if you leave the Labyrinth. The council may agree to send you home."

She smiled back at him, not really worried despite the troubling nature of his words. She was sure she could handle whatever Jareth threw at her. "I really appreciate it. And uh... good luck."

"Thank you," he said sincerely, and then abruptly added, in response to her thoughts: "It's not Jareth you have to worry about now. It's his very powerful and angry Labyrinth." And with that, he swiftly and neatly disappeared.

Sarah sat on the bench for several minutes afterwards, staring at the charm he'd given her and wishing she'd thought to ask him why he was wearing those pink socks. She didn't move until Gideon rose from where it had been resting on the floor, hovering into her vision. She shoved the charm in her jeans pocket, and looked up and smiled at Gideon. "I guess we'd better get moving, huh?"

She stood up, still aching from her various adventures, and headed to the gate which she thought must lead out of the Labyrinth. The view of brown plains beyond it didn't look like anything she'd seen in the Labyrinth before, but she didn't see any obvious trap, and carefully stepped through it.

Immediately the perspective shifted. She stumbled in shock as the ground under her feet became pavement, and the castle beyond the goblin city blinked into view. Regaining her footing quickly, she smiled in fierce victory: despite everything, she _was_ going to beat this bastard's maze - again!

She hadn't taken two steps past the gate when a scuffle broke out in her path, seemingly out of nowhere. She checked her pace as a rowdy group of goblins fell over themselves in front of her. Alarmed, she backed up a few paces, but the goblins seemed less interested in her than in an object one of them was carrying. It was a large, oddly shaped box, borne by the biggest goblin in the group.

It seemed to Sarah that one of the other smaller goblins wasn't too happy with that arrangement, because it jumped on the big goblin with a shrill cry. "Give me that box you scruffy-haired, foul-smelling, dirty-toed ruffian!"

Sarah watched, fascinated and horrified, as one of the goblins sent the little goblin flying into the air with a single blow, screaming. "Don't touch the box, you worthless scum, you-"

Another goblin turned abruptly, cutting the other off in mid-sentence. It brandished a club, raising its own voice: "Your mother ate dogs when she got you! I'll show you-" He was cut off when the last goblin in the group shoved him roughly onto the ground.

Sarah grabbed a stone laying on the ground, and raised it as though to throw it at them - she was reasonably sure she didn't want to know what was in the box, but there was no way around them in the narrow road. But as soon as she moved, the biggest goblin dropped the box onto the ground and, giving her a look mingled with fear and revulsion, fled. The two goblins still standing followed him quickly, and as Sarah advanced a few steps, it didn't take long for the goblin lying on the ground to scramble upright and follow the others.

A little put-off by the look on the goblins' reactions - all she'd done was pick up a rock! - Sarah nonetheless decided not to worry over the stupid creatures. The important thing was that the path was clear for her now.

She took a few more steps before a miserable sounding groan came from the one goblin still left on the ground, the one who had first tried to grab the box. Her distaste for goblins fled as she noticed that the creature seemed to be in pain. Thinking of her own hurts from her own encounter with those goblins by the entrance, she went to its side and knelt down, careful to stay out of reach.

The goblin made no move to get away from her or lash out at her, but merely looked up at her with pleading eyes. In between gasping breaths, it managed: "Please... help me!"

Sarah chewed on her lip, looking down unhappily at the goblin. Even without a good knowledge of goblin anatomy, Sarah could tell that the creature's limbs were not supposed to lie like that. But what could she do?

"I don't know - where can I get help?"

It tried to speak again, and coughed instead. Sarah looked around wildly, but there were no other goblins in sight. There was only Gideon, who hovered beside her, seemingly as helpless as she was.

"Please, you must tell me how I can help you," said Sarah desperately, whose heart went out to the creature in spite of its grotesque appearance.

Another few coughs, and the goblin finally found its voice. "Water... well... next to house... around corner-" and broke off with another coughing fit.

"OK," replied Sarah. "OK, I'll bring you some water. Don't try to talk or move. Gideon?" The book raised its altitude slightly in response. "Watch over it - come get me immediately if someone else tries to hurt it." Sarah took the lowering of altitude as an affirmative sign, and hurried off down the street in the direction the goblin had indicated.

Luckily for her, the directions weren't too complicated. The street curved soon, forming a corner. She hurried down it, wondering which house the goblin could have meant - there were so many! - but three or four houses past the curve, she spotted a well outside a dilapidated hut. Approaching the well, she reached for the bucket hanging above it, expecting it to be full.

But not only was it empty, as soon as she touched the rim, a stone came flying past her head, barely missing her ear. She was being attacked again!


	7. Chapter 7

"Ow!" Sarah cried, jumping back in shock. She quickly ducked behind the well as a few more stones came whizzing by.

"You you you!" a high-pitched voice called out. "Get away from well!"

Sarah narrowed her eyes. This had better be the right well, because it seemed like she was going to have to go through a lot of trouble to get the stupid water. She grabbed a nearby, conveniently placed stone and left the shelter of the rock long enough to hurl it in the general direction the other stones had come from.

"Owwwie!" came the shrill cry. Sarah smirked; apparently she had better aim than her foes even when she couldn't see them. That was more like the goblins she had encountered during her first trip here!

Sarah picked up another stone and dodged out again, only to see two well-armed goblins rushing towards her, brandishing pikes. Not bothering to take aim, she tossed the stone at them and retreated behind the well. Great, now they were charging her - weapon, she needed a _weapon_...

Her gaze raked upward, and she forcefully yanked the bucket from its rope. The goblins were rounding the side of the well where she was hiding, and she hurriedly stood. Lashing out at them with the bucket, she disarmed one and the rest of her swing knocked off the helmet of the other. Dodging their jabs aimed at her, she retreated a few steps and lashed out again. With less impressive results this time, she nevertheless stopped their advance and gained some breathing room.

The two goblins stared at her, and one of them turned to the other and began issuing incomprehensible orders. Sarah took the opportunity to pick up the fallen pike and hurl it towards the helmet-less goblin. Although her throw was badly aimed and didn't have much strength behind it, it caught the goblin by surprise, who shrieked and threw down his own pike to clutch at his head. The other goblin gave one glance at her, another at his companion, and decided discretion was the better part of valor. It fled, with the first goblin not far behind.

Sarah sighed, and tried not to reflect on the irony of beating up on two goblins in order to help a third. But they seemed mean, and her goblin seemed like a victim. She picked up the bucket from where she had dropped it, and fumbled with the rope a bit until she had tied it back on. She lowered the bucket down into the well until she heard it splash, and then carefully drew it back up. The bucket was about half-way full, so she untied it again and set off back down the street.

Gideon was still hovering where she had left it, over the body of the goblin. Sarah ran the last few steps, sloshing some of the contents of her bucket over the side. She bent down to the goblin, whose eyes were closed. It almost appeared to have stopped breathing. Praying silently, Sarah cupped a bit of the water in one hand and awkwardly attempted to get some down the goblin's throat. It went all over its mail at first, but a few tries later, she actually managed to get some down the goblin's throat.

The results were immediate and startling. The goblin's eyes flew open and it sat up right away. Sarah jumped up and took a few steps back, eying the creature warily.

The goblin was beaming at her. "Talie is - thanks for yer help, milady."

Sarah gaped a bit at the goblin's assumption of her title, but she was more curious about the effects of the water. "That was... amazing. The water was magical?"

The goblin nodded and stood up. "Yes, milady. Talie owe ye now." She managed to curtsy gracefully in her goblin armaments.

Sarah merely nodded back, surprised that there would be female goblins. But of course there would be, stupid, she told herself, how else did you think they reproduced? "The water cures everything, just like that?" she said aloud.

Talie nodded, still smiling. "It work fer ye too, milady," she said, motioning towards Sarah's scratched face.

Hardly daring to hope it would be so easy, Sarah took a drink from the bucket for herself. The change was instant - her scratches healed, the pain in her arm went away, her body seemed to feel less cold, and even her feet felt less sore. "That's amazing!" she exclaimed. "Who enchanted it to be like that?"

"His Majesty supplies it fer goblins. Was his idea and everything, or so Talie hear." Talie gave Sarah a wry grin, which was impressive from her low vantage point. "Goblins hurt theirselves all the time."

Sarah was too busy trying to assimilate the idea that Jareth cared that much about his goblins to reply. Eventually, Talie sighed and stared at the ground. "Talie go now, milady, others not know where Talie at."

"Wait!" cried Sarah, as the goblin turned around. "Can you at least..." she trailed off, feeling silly for what she was about to ask, but the goblin was looking at her expectantly. "At least confirm that that _is_ Jareth's castle?" she finished, and pointed towards the castle nearby.

Talie frowned, her wrinkles standing out from her forehead even more. "'Course it be His Majesty's castle, milady, but it no place for the likes of yerself.

"Unless..." The goblin trailed off, giving Sarah a wide-eyed stare. "Milady is the one what has solved the Labyrinth, ain't ye?" She backed away from Sarah in awe. "Talie hear all about milady, how amazing ye be and-"

Sarah cut her off, embarrassed in the extreme. "Right, yes, I am here for the second time, but not by any choice of my own. Anyway, I guess I have to get to that castle, assuming _that_ rule hasn't changed."

Talie lowered her eyes to the ground. "Milady, Talie owe ye. Can Talie come with ye? Please?"

"Come with me?" asked Sarah, frowning. She was only going up the road to the castle.

"It such honor, milady, big honor. Talie hear so much about ye! And can help, really-"

"OK, OK," said Sarah hurriedly, more to prevent having to hear her own praises sung than anything else. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know how much time I have left, would you?"

Talie shook her head.

Sarah shrugged. "Well, that's only to be expected. I'm sure I've wasted too much time already... let's get going."

Sarah brushed herself off and set off up the street with Gideon and Talie in tow, who still sounded like she was mumbling Sarah's praises in the background. Soon the cold wind which had been blowing about them intensified, and Sarah drew the black robes around her body more tightly. She had felt better after drinking the water, but now was growing colder by the minute. She hoped they'd reach the castle soon.

Jareth had been contemplating the crystal tracking Sarah's movements - he wasn't sure exactly what to think about her unexpected compassion for Talie - when he was interrupted by the arrival of Drake, who was no more welcome this time than he had been the last.

"What do you want now?" was Jareth's unfriendly greeting.

"Jareth, your Labyrinth is now attacking your neighboring lands. You absolutely cannot ignore this problem anymore," Drake replied in what he hoped was a reasonable, convincing tone of voice.

"I know it is," Jareth replied, irritated. Must Drake always speak to him like he was a child? Just because he was the damned Ruler of the bloody Underground didn't make him some amazing expert on everything. "I've spoken to it," he ground out between his teeth, "and I have everything under control."

Drake just stared at him, his mien all too serious. Jareth held his gaze stonily. "Jareth, there are some who have _died_," stressed Drake.

Jareth's expression grew even stonier. "A few animals and creatures that were stupid enough to get close to the old man. I can't be responsible for-"

Drake cut him off, even though he knew from long experience that Jareth despised being interrupted. "You're _responsible_ for this entire mess, Jareth! I don't care how badly you want to ruin your own kingdom, but I cannot allow you to put your neighbors into danger - you know they have no defense against the fierce magic of the Labyrinth..."

Jareth's lips thinned. "I told you, Drake. Everything is under control."

"But it's not," insisted Drake. "I just spoke to the girl, she is extremely vulnerable in this situation. Her very life may be at stake and you sit in here, playing at being a King-"

"Playing?" repeated Jareth in a dangerous tone of voice. "I am not _playing_ here. I know lives are at stake, and if you think I do not care for the creatures of my kingdom, you're wrong. And I am entitled take umbrage at your accusations of the situation being beyond my control. _I know what I'm doing_," he added fiercely.

Drake sighed and ran his hands through his hair. "But, Jareth, you don't really seem to care. Why can't you just send the girl home and be done with this whole mess?"

"Because I don't need to!" exploded Jareth. "Why are you always questioning me? For the last time, I-"

But suddenly he broke off, alerted to a major shift in the magical currents of the Labyrinth. A shift centered on - oh no -

Jareth leapt up and grabbed his crystal. There was Sarah, talking with the goblin that had foolishly elected to join her, and she had... healed herself? With water from the Labyrinth's well? "Oh fates above, she did not," he breathed, forgetting his anger at the other man for the moment.

Drake raised an eyebrow. "You have everything under control, do you?"

Jareth looked back up at him and nodded tightly. "I've got to go," he said, and disappeared without waiting for formal dismissal. It was beyond all acceptable protocol, but Jareth was way past caring about that. Drake sighed, hoping against hope that Sarah would be all right, and vanished in his turn to help the neighbors control the ever-expanding boundaries of the Labyrinth. 

* * *

"Sarah." Jareth's voice reached her before his body did, and Sarah nearly jumped out of her skin. What was with that man and his abrupt arrivals and departures?

He materialized in front of her, and continued to speak to her. "Follow me. This way, immediately." To her astonishment, he grabbed her hand firmly and started off in the opposite direction from which she had been heading - away from the castle.

Bewildered, Sarah had to trot to keep pace with him. "What on earth-!" she protested, her mind still spinning from his sudden appearance.

"There's no time to explain. Hurry," he replied shortly.

Caught off guard, she took his advice by default and matched his stride. The last time she'd seen him, he had apologized to her - and then been angry that she had accepted the apology so gracelessly. Given those circumstances, she couldn't fathom why he would suddenly come to her again, and on such a seemingly urgent errand. And wasn't he supposed to be dealing with the encroaching boundaries of the Labyrinth, like Ludo - Drake - had mentioned?

It took them but minutes to reach their destination, a bare field covered with dead grass and some stones on the edge of the city. Jareth checked his pace so abruptly that Sarah lost her balance and would have fallen but for his grip on her hand. Sarah turned to him and was about to demand an explanation, but was stopped by the look of intense concentration on his face. He looked very strained all of a sudden, his skin pale and taut over his cheekbones.

Sarah stayed silent even as she felt something shift in the air around her. But when she saw, out of the corner of her eye, her companion Gideon fall onto the ground and lay there like a regular inanimate book, she whirled on Jareth. "What have you done?" she asked, appalled.

He ignored her, lifting his free hand to massage at his temple as though he were suffering from a massive headache. Suddenly aware that she was _holding Jareth's hand_, her face flamed as she quickly yanked her hand free. She took a few steps away from him and stood there stiffly, feeling extremely uncomfortable and out of place. She cast a glance at Talie looking for a distraction, but the goblin was sitting down with her head between her knees, looking miserable herself. Sarah wrote her discomfort off just as being in the presence of the King.

At long last, Jareth deigned to look at Sarah. "Did you learn nothing from the last time you tried to ingest something here?" he asked, his voice too tightly controlled to be mocking.

Her mouth fell open in surprise and she looked around wildly for any signs of a ballroom. Seeing none, she cast her thoughts back to what she had eaten here... or rather, had drank. "But the water healed me!"

"Sarah," he said with the voice of one whose patience is about to give out, "Ingesting something gives it power over you. Even if the original intent was to heal, that may not be enough to save you from present malignant intent."

She blinked a few times, trying to find something in his words to be angry over. After a few seconds, finding nothing but shame for being so naive, she dropped her eyes to the ground. "What are you going to do with me now?" she asked quietly, hoping it would be as relatively painless as last time.

"Do with you?" asked Jareth, sounding surprised. "Nothing. It is not I you have to fear, but the Labyrinth. It is... slightly upset at your presence here."

"Oh!" Sarah blurted. "Ludo said it was out of your control and attacking your neighbors!"

Jareth quirked an eyebrow at the way she referred to the Ruler of the Underground, an amused gesture lacking his usual malice. "Ludo?" It was accompanied by what was almost a friendly chuckle.

There was a pause, in which Sarah wished the ground would swallow her - anything to get away from that smirk of his.

"His name is Drake, Sarah, and the fact that both he and the Labyrinth seem rather fond of you won't prevent them from trying to do their jobs. In the Labyrinth's case, it is to send you home, back to where it thinks you belong. Instead of-"

"So you _did_ lure me here against the rules," breathed Sarah, chancing to glance at his face again. His eyes flashed anger at her, and she took another step away from him in rediscovered fear.

However, he seemed to be able to control his anger swiftly this time. All he said in reply was a bland, almost bored observation: "You have the most annoying habit of interrupting me."

Sarah mumbled an apology. She _did_ keep doing that a lot, and it was perhaps not the wisest thing to do since it antagonized him so. She chanced a glance at him - his eyes were narrowed and he seemed disinclined to continue their conversation himself. Casting her mind around to find something to say to break the ensuing uncomfortable silence, she finally settled on a question she figured he would know the answer to.

"So, um," she said, clearing her throat. She could tell he didn't shift to look at her, but she continued anyway. "How is it Ludo - Drake - whatever - can read my mind? I mean, you can't." And then hastily added, "Can you?"

"Of course not," he said in a clipped tone. "Drake is exceptionally skilled at it, even for our kind, and his position enhanced his powers considerably. Over the years, I've learned to block him out," here his tone became slightly more sardonic, "but a mortal like you would need substantial aid to achieve the same results."

Sarah bit down on her lip hard to keep from answering. To know Jareth couldn't read her mind was a comfort, and it wasn't as though she was afraid of what Ludo might find inside her head, but still! Could he possibly manage to be any more insulting?

Sarah fumed silently, and after a few moments of silence, Jareth spoke again. "As you are most likely wondering what we're doing here, I suppose I should explain."

"That would be nice," muttered Sarah sarcastically, still smarting over his insult to her mortality. It wasn't like it was something she could help, or something to be ashamed of. The man was just impossible!

Jareth chose to ignore her and continued. "You gave the Labyrinth a large degree of control of your body when you ingested its water, and without me to guide it, I am not sure that the results would have acceptable. It may have simply settled for sending you home, and though that journey would be less than pleasant, it is among the least painful of the possible eventualities."

Sarah eyed him askance, unsure what to think. If he really was fighting with his own Labyrinth, he was probably just trying to see that she wasn't sent home against his will. Sarah couldn't really credit the theory that the Labyrinth would harm her, despite the death of Merlin and the warnings of Ludo. There had to be a simpler explanation for all of this - like that Jareth was just still out to get her. Yeah, that had to be it...

"In order to prevent it from taking action, I took you to this clearing, from which all magic has been removed."

Sarah gasped - that was the last explanation she had been expecting. "That's why Gideon collapsed!"

Jareth nodded. "And that is why Talie and I are ill at ease here. We are not entirely creatures of magic, but magic is part of our being."

Sarah frowned. He presented more of an enigma to her with every sentence he uttered - insulting one minute, practically solicitous the next. And she realized with a start that the last thing she had expected was for him to know the name of one of his goblins. Sarah began to feel that she just may be in over her head, after all. "Why couldn't you just put me in a non-magical section without risking my friends, too? Or yourself," she added belatedly, wondering why he would put himself through such discomfort on her account.

Jareth looked at her silently, his face unreadable. Eventually he replied, in a different, softer tone. "If you were by yourself in a section of the land without magic, you would never escape. The Labyrinth, being satisfied that you were gone, would not seek you, and for my part, I would not be able to reverse the process."

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Not escape? Can't I just, well, walk back into the magic section?"

Jareth smiled, an inadvertently handsome smile which made her heart flutter involuntarily. It almost made him look friendly. "Try it," he suggested.

Sarah looked at him uncertainly, her instincts telling her not to trust him despite the openness of his expression. She glanced at Talie again, who was still hunched on the ground, and then shrugged. What did she have to lose? She turned back in the direction they came, heading towards the Goblin City, and only made it a few feet before her leg banged into solid air. She took a step back automatically, but twisted her ankle and fell heavily, skinning the elbow she flung out to support herself. She found herself slumped against an invisible barrier.

Her breath hitching, she stared at the thin air, trying to detect any sort of difference, but with no success. Slowly, by leaning on the solid air and ignoring her throbbing ankle - and how did she manage to injure herself again just minutes after healing? - she got to her feet and faced Jareth again, her head hanging. "I see," she said quietly, too embarrassed to ask any questions.

"The absence of magic has erected a powerful barrier here," Jareth explained without her prompting. "That is the nature of the Labyrinth - a gateway between the Underground and other magic-less worlds. Soon it will condescend to notice us, as is its function, and we will be able to travel back to the city. Which it would not do were you here alone."

Trying to conceal her limp, Sarah took a few steps to where he was standing. Although she still didn't meet his gaze, she spoke to him. "How long do we have to wait? I mean, hours, weeks, months?"

"Mere minutes, I suspect. It can't ignore me for very long," he said, with more confidence than he felt. He had acted on the spur of the moment, not seeing any other options if he wanted to keep Sarah in one piece. Much as he was loath to admit it, the Labyrinth was perhaps becoming a bit unruly. Happily for him, he was saved too much contemplation on that topic by another question coming from Sarah.

"What is your relationship with the Labyrinth anyway?" she asked, half suspiciously, half curiously. The King acted like it was a separate entity with a will of its own, which didn't make much sense in Sarah's mind, but even if it was, Jareth was its King, wasn't he? What was he doing fighting with it?

"I am the King of the Goblins, Sarah, not the King of the Labyrinth. It is its own being, and I do not control it, but it allows me and my goblins to live here and act as caretakers. The Labyrinth is a wild thing, ancient and untamed... in consequence, it is a harsh place and few who have the choice elect to remain here." For a moment, Sarah thought she detected a hint of wistfulness - perhaps loneliness - in his tone, but she looked at his face and saw only a cold demeanor lacking expression.

He continued speaking, and his tone became mocking, and a bit cruel. "Such as do remain are not worth much." He looked directly at Sarah, and caught by surprise, she met his gaze. He tossed his head arrogantly, but adopted a more relaxed posture - almost smug - before uttering his next sentence. "For instance, your precious collection of 'friends' here."

Sarah's mouth fell open, but before she could reply, Talie spoke up for the first time in the King's presence. "Milady did not ask for Talie, Talie ask to join milady," she said, and Sarah glanced at her to see her still on the ground, but looking up at Jareth now. "Majesty is angry at Talie?"

Jareth, in truth, had made the comment more to provoke Sarah than out of any malice towards her friends - well, he was still sore over Hoggle's part in it all, and didn't appreciate Drake's meddling, but Talie couldn't be expected to know better. In fact, she was probably more of a hindrance to Sarah's quest than a help. He hid an indulgent smile, and nudged Talie with the tip of his boot, almost playfully. "Angry enough to throw Talie in the bog, perhaps - oh wait," he added, glancing sideways at Sarah. "It's feed Talie to Mortenna now, isn't it?"

Sarah couldn't help laughing; however incongruous his humor to the situation, and however unfunny the idea of that cat-woman eating Talie, the idea of an inside joke between her and Jareth was irresistibly hilarious. And she had not failed to notice the smile he had tried to hide. Could it be that he was a nice person, sometimes?

Soon enough, however, Sarah sobered and thought back to his last comment. "What did happen to my friends, anyway? How come I haven't run into them?"

Jareth turned his attention from the goblin and answered her. "'Ludo' you've seen. Hoggle chose to leave after what happened. Didymus is still guarding the bog." Eying Sarah somewhat carefully, he added, "You understand, this was no punishment, for he enjoys the task."

Sarah's lips curled upward into a reluctant smile. "His sense of smell needs some work," she agreed. A sincere laugh came from Jareth at that, surprising Sarah once again with how handsome he could be, when not looming over her or threatening terrible things. His laughter was infectious and she shared in it, glad for the chance to relax and release some emotion after keeping it pent-up.

Almost forgetting that he was her enemy, the evil Goblin King, almost forgetting the hell he had put her through over the past hours, Sarah wasn't even surprised when, as their laughter subsided, he took a step forward, close enough to touch her. He hesitated just next to her for a short second, and Sarah could smell him, almost thought that she could feel him. That mere second was all the time she needed for her newfound friendly thoughts towards him to turn into something slightly more... amorous. She'd been this close to him before - heck, she'd even danced with him - but then she hadn't been fully aware of just how badly she wanted him. And oh, she'd dreamed of this moment, deny it as she did the instant she woke up.

The gap between them closed and his lips barely brushed with her own, his mismatched eyes locked on hers. Her breath hitched tight in her chest, but then before anything had even happened, he jerked in a motion almost like retreat. She'd never have taken him for the shy type, but suddenly realizing he needed some form of encouragement, she moved forward in a jerky imitation of a dance. Their bodies were touching each other in all the right places - oh, she could tell he wanted her - and Sarah dared to lean in and kiss him.

She but vaguely registered the soft feel of his wild hair, the way his hands felt on the small of her back, and the cool smoothness of his skin, because then his mouth opened on hers and all she could think of was how she never, never wanted this to end. It was heaven, and something swelled in Sarah's chest until she felt as though she might burst. To be sure, kissing Jade was nice enough... and she may have even dreamed of kissing Jareth like this... but nothing - absolutely nothing - could measure up to the real thing.

Then, without warning, she felt Jareth stiffen - and not in an encouraging way. Sarah had no time to react before he pulled away, his eyes suddenly distant.

Head spinning wildly, Sarah brought her hands up to her cheeks and contemplated throwing up as the full import of the last few minutes came crashing down on her. Had she just been kissing - passionately kissing! - this bizarre, fairy-tale creature? She didn't even know what he _was_, for heaven's sake, much less what he wanted out of her! Oh god, she had practically thrown herself at him...

Her painful musings were interrupted by the sound of his voice. "We can leave now, the Labyrinth has opened a gateway."

Still breathing heavily, Sarah only glared at him. He had interrupted an amazing kiss because he wanted to return to his precious Labyrinth? Good lord, he had probably only been using her, as a nice way to pass the time... She was mortified and terribly angry with both him and with herself.

Jareth was standing there stiffly. He steadily held her furious gaze for a short time, without revealing anything in his expression, before turning and making his way back towards the Goblin City. Still favoring her ankle, Sarah followed, none too closely. Once they re-entered the Labyrinth proper, Jareth looked back at her. He looked like he was about to say something, but evidently changed his mind and settled on giving her a reasonably polite nod before vanishing.

Sarah continued glaring at the spot he had vacated, trying to blink back the tears that sprung up. What the _hell_ was he playing at? 

* * *

Jareth arrived in his throne room and sat down, hard, scattering goblins as he went. He grabbed a large wooden cup of ale from the nearest goblin and downed it in a few smooth gulps. He tilted his head back to rest against the wood and closed his eyes painfully. He had no idea what had just happened - had Sarah kissed him? _Kissed him_? The thought gave him a huge headache and an uncomfortable nervous feeling in his stomach all at once. Was she playing games with him - maybe trying to play him at his own game? He had only meant to intimidate her - maybe - he couldn't explain why he had been drawn to her like that - and she had reacted completely unexpectedly. Or - could it be - fates above, the mortal couldn't have _feelings_ for him, could she? He dismissed the idea immediately. She either intended to play him, or she had some unresolved lust issues. A slight smirk appeared on his face at that thought.

However, he couldn't deny that the episode had affected him in strange, unusual ways. Why had he lied to her about Hoggle? Did he actually fear her possible condemnation of him?

And then there was the problem of the Labyrinth. He could feel it, a throbbing presence in his head, quite apart from his headache. After he'd isolated himself and Sarah from its reach, and it had subsequently opened a gateway for them, the presence - which he had always been aware of in the back of his head, to one extent or another - had returned with a vengeance. It was now a powerful, pulsing entity, and growing worse by the minute. Jareth wondered if his head would explode when the pressure grew too great to withstand, or if he'd simply turn into a large, pulsing, non-sentient entity. He massaged his forehead with one hand and began to wonder if Drake wasn't right, after all. He'd never been unable to control the Labyrinth before, in all his hundreds of years of ruling it, but now, well, the presence in his head was distinctly angry. With him, he supposed. And it had opened the gateway remarkably soon after Sarah had kissed him... he wondered even if it was jealous. He knew it liked the girl, as far as a Labyrinth could like anything. That was almost a funny thought - or would be, if there weren't a chance it was true. The Labyrinth was too unpredictable to risk it being true.

In any case, he couldn't stop himself from thinking that the kiss had definitely been something worthy of envy. It was hard not to relive it over and over again in his mind - the feel of her lips on his, her hand on his cheek, the way her tongue...

His train of thought was interrupted by a disruption in the room. He opened his eyes to see his friend standing there with narrowed eyes and a challenging expression. He immediately closed them again. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

"Jareth," Drake began in a serious tone, "If it was anyone else behind this mess, I would've already relieved them of, at the very least, their kingdom."

Well, maybe not quite out of mind then. Jareth sighed and opened his eyes again. "I know, Drake," he said in a weary tone. "I can no longer argue with you about this." The admission tasted sour in his mouth, ruining what was left of the kiss.

Drake raised an eyebrow, having been unprepared for that response, and waited for him to continue. Jareth gave him a twisted smile and stood up, ignoring the pain in his head brought on by the abrupt movement. He walked over to where Drake was standing, by a window overlooking the city. "It's never tried to fight me like this before. I'll go talk to it again, and if I don't come back..." he trailed off, looking grim. "You know what to do." Drake blinked, surprised at the admission, but wasted no time on useless questions. He nodded.

Jareth calmly gave his cup to a goblin nearby and returned the nod with more confidence than he felt.

"I intend to-" he broke off as the presence in his head suddenly intensified. He gripped his head in his hands, trying to ward it off - but it felt like a volcano erupting inside. It was taking over - he stumbled, and a concerned crown of goblins gathered around. He tried to wave them off through the haze of pain, but managed only a few weak movements. Thickly, he ground out a few words to Drake: "Just get her out of here," and then gave in to the mounting pressure.

He lost consciousness and collapsed.


	8. Chapter 8

Sarah reached the nearest goblin house and sat down on the stoop, elbows on her knees and head in her hands. At the moment, she didn't particularly care about the stupid maze and its stupid time limit - and was there even a time limit this time? - she just wanted to wallow in her misery. Talie, who had at least had had the presence of mind to grab Gideon as they left, hovered in the background.

How could she have been so _stupid_? She couldn't even really blame the incident on him - no, she'd been the one at fault there. She'd forgotten everything important and had thrown herself at him. Everything, including her mission, the fact that he was her enemy, even how she was supposed to be dating someone else...

But, a tiny part of her brain interjected, she'd never really cared for Jade, had she? He was just the closest she'd found in the real world to the Goblin King, wasn't he? She treated him like dirt and he liked her for it...

Oh, shit, what _was_ she doing? She rose angrily. It was all a moot point anyway, if she failed the finish the maze. She'd probably be his slave, not his girlfriend. It was almost humorous, put that way. Her boyfriend the Goblin King! She barked laugher, then bit hard on her lip. She needed to get a grip! Trying not to think about what spending a lifetime with the Goblin King would mean, she looked over at Talie.

"Ready to go?" she asked, trying to sound normal. What must the poor thing think of her, kissing the King like that?

Talie seemed unphased by the episode - or much less affected by it than Sarah, at any rate. Her face lit up at Sarah's question and she nodded. "Talie ready," came the cheerful answer. Sarah gave a shaky smile in return and took a deep breath.

She looked around, trying to assess the situation. She was in the Goblin City, but who knew how many hours were left? So far, she had seen no sign of a goblin army - apart from those two well goblins, which could hardly be termed an army - but that didn't mean she could rule out the possibility of one appearing.

Then she thought of something. Talie was from here, so she should know the area, right? "Talie, is there, like, a back way into the castle? Something, I don't know - to avoid running into the goblin army?"

"No army in city now, milady," Talie said.

"I know, there wasn't one at first when I came here last time either, but it popped up soon enough..."

Talie shrugged. "Of course there be a back way into castle. Talie hope King will not be angry if she show milady."

Sarah managed a wry grin. "He didn't seem that upset just now."

Talie stared at the ground and didn't answer, and Sarah took pity on her. "Well, that's ok, we'll just make for the main entrance-"

"No!" cried the little goblin suddenly. "Talie not let milady down. Show milady back way in." She grabbed Sarah's hand and dragged her down the street, quite a feat for someone a quarter her size. Bemusedly, Sarah let her, after checking to see that Gideon was still following them.

Talie led Sarah through several of the twisty ways, miraculously escaping much notice. A shutter or two slammed as they made their way through, but they were not interrupted or challenged.

All too soon for Sarah's mental well-being, the Castle Beyond the Goblin City loomed before them. They were on the opposite side from the main entrance, and Talie was approaching what looked like solid wall. Sarah frowned and stopped, but Talie stepped up to the wall and knocked on it three times.

A section of the wall slid open impressively, revealing an even more impressive Knight in Shining Armor standing on the other side. As he spied Sarah, he jumped to attention from where he had been lounging on a bench. He stood about eight feet tall, and his armor was polished blindingly bright.

"Halt!" he cried. As he just stood there and made no move to advance on her, she was not particularly alarmed, but this was not the "easy way in" she had envisioned.

Sarah eyed Talie askance. "Uh..." she began.

"Talie sorry, she forget about knight here," said the little goblin apologetically. "Milady can still use main entrance..."

"No, it's ok," said Sarah. "Maybe I'll take him by surprise if I go this way." _Him_ meaning Jareth, of course - Sarah hardly hoped to take the Knight by surprise at this point. She ignored the Knight for the moment, looking around - and spied a sword conveniently lying on the ground. Without bothering to wonder why it would be there or how it could have gotten there, she gave a little shout of triumph and reached out to pick it up.

Grinning, she extended it in front of her and waved it in the Knight's direction.

He looked down on her condescendingly. "You shall not pass, villainess! Your deeds shall not go unpunished!"

"My deeds?" Sarah asked, momentarily distracted. "What deeds?"

The Knight sniffed. "That is not for the likes of you to know," he replied haughtily.

"I'm not even allowed to know of my own evil deeds?" asked Sarah, bemused.

The Knight nodded gravely.

"That doesn't make any sense," Sarah laughed, and chose that moment to take a few steps forward and swing her sword at the Knight. That was, of course, a very stupid action on her part - the Knight was a third again as tall as she was, and obviously trained in the use of a sword. Sarah, on the other hand, was not.

Her blow missed the Knight completely, who drew his sword, running it against her own and twisting it out of her grip in one smooth movement. It clattered to the ground behind the Knight, and Sarah was left with a stinging wrist.

"Well, that went well," she muttered sarcastically.

"You have no chance of gaining mastery over myself in a duel," the Knight assured her.

"Thanks for nothing," she grumbled in reply. Damn, but that had hurt... shaking her head at her own ineptitude, she contemplated the Knight in Shining Armor. She had to get past him, or brave the main entrance, which caused a huge mess last time, and - wait, what the hell was this Knight doing so clean here? Speaking of messes, if she remembered correctly, everything around the city and the castle had been filthy! The idea of this Knight in anything less than perfectly shining armor was rather unimaginable.

And suddenly she got an idea. "You've got a streak of dirt right here," she said suddenly, indicating her temple to mean his helmet.

"What!" he gasped, and moved his sword from fighting position upright, in order to examine his own reflection in it. Sarah recklessly seized the moment, grabbed Talie, and scrambled past him, through the doorway he was guarding.

Either the Knight had very slow reactions, or he was supposed to let her pass without harming her, because Sarah had ample time to get past and slam the door behind her. She grinned; either way, she had won.

There was a staircase directly in front of her, which she mounted. She paused a moment to catch her breath, but realized after a few seconds that she was incapable of calming down. Her heart kept beating faster than it should, and her stomach was twisting in anticipation - anticipation of what? Winning for the second time... or seeing _him_ again?

She resolutely shoved that thought aside and took the rest of the stairs two at a time. It lead her to a room of doors - a lot of doors. She counted seven before getting dizzy and stopping. She put her hand against the wall to her right to clear her head, and then tried the door next to her. It was locked.

Peering at the door, she saw what looked like a combination lock - but not a kind that she'd ever seen before. It was an elaborate scroll, with numbers carved in seemingly random patterns. She touched it, and the numbers rearranged themselves, wriggling away from her fingers. It seemed that she had to chase the correct numbers into a lined up position against the side of the door handle - but what on earth were the correct numbers? And was this even the right door?

She looked around again, and as there seemed to be no choice, turned her attention back to the lock. There were four slots next to the handle, so she tried her lucky number - 2222 - which didn't work - then 1234 - which didn't work either - 9876 - 1111 - 1892 - 2347 - 9382 - 4527 - nothing was working! Each try got her more frustrated, as lining the numbers up wasn't as easy as it seemed. The stubborn little things always tried to go everywhere but where she wanted them, and - ugh, she couldn't possibly stand here and try all the possible combinations!

She turned to Talie. "I don't suppose you know this combination?" she asked, not hoping for much. The goblin seemed uncomfortable enough just being here, and she didn't really want to make it worse.

To her surprise, Talie had a ready reply. "Doors don't go nowhere, milady. S'just a trap, like. Leads t'oubliette."

Sarah spluttered, taken aback. "And you couldn't have told me that in the first place! Argh, never mind," she added quickly, not wanting to upset her friend. "Just - do you know the way to the throne room? Please?"

Talie nodded, with a lopsided smile on her face. "Talie know the way, milady follow."

Sarah bit back another sharp response along the same lines as her previous remark. Goblins, it seemed, even the nice ones, were not particularly bright. She managed to return Talie's smile through clenched teeth, and followed Talie back down the stairs, where she went around them to a staircase heading down instead of up. From there, she took several flights, turning off left at a random point in the middle of the flight of stairs. Then she took a few more lefts, mounted some more stairs, followed some twisting corridors, and generally overwhelmed Sarah's sense of direction completely. Finally, Talie emerged into what seemed like more of a main corridor, and led her up a more prominent flight of stairs - yes, oh thank god, she recognized it here. She was just outside the throne room! Just a few steps away from victory.

She grinned and thanked Talie profusely. The goblin looked down and the ground shyly, and pressed herself against the wall behind the doors. It was obvious the little goblin didn't want to enter, which was fine with Sarah - this was her fight. As it was the first time. She took a deep breath, and threw open the doors.

She quickly registered the scene - virtually unchanged from seven years ago, although there were less chickens and no goblins, with Drake also standing there, looking out of a window - but none of this made more than a vague, superficial impression on her. What she instantly focused on was a solitary figure lying crumpled on the floor, draped over the steps into the pit. Somehow Sarah knew exactly who was lying there, still as death.

* * *

She did the only thing she could think of, and screamed.

Ludo turned in her direction and quickly approached, taking her hands in a powerful grip. "Don't scream, please - you'll scare the goblins."

Uncomprehendingly Sarah looked at Jareth's prone form. No! She ignored Ludo's comment, quickly wrenching her hands from his and running over to the Goblin King's side. She reached out, and dared what she would have hesitated over had he been conscious - she grabbed his arms and shook him, trying to elicit some sort of response. Nothing happened, and she sat back on her heels despairingly. What could have happened to him? It wasn't supposed to end like _this_!

Ludo, who had silently approached from behind, grasped her by the shoulders and pulled her to her feet. "Sarah, I'm sorry. There's nothing to be done about it. I tried to warn him, but..."

She looked up into his kind black eyes, mutely demanding answers.

"His fight with the Labyrinth has escalated and become too much for him, I fear. The Labyrinth is more powerful than he realized, and he learned it too late. Not even he can control everything."

"But it seems like he's lost the fight!" cried Sarah. "We have to do something."

"Rather, he is _losing_ the fight - it isn't over yet. But we need to get you out of here before it is over."

"What - I'm not leaving, I can't leave him like this. It's my fault for coming here-" She didn't know why, but she was breathing erratically, near tears. How could something like this have happened? It was all wrong!

Ludo frowned. "Hardly. You did not choose to come. Now you must leave."

Sarah swallowed - she'd followed the goblins down the stupid tunnel when she hadn't had to, it was after all a little bit her fault. She blinked her tears away and tried to concentrate on what he was saying. She wondered at the urgency in his voice, and at his apparent lack of care for Jareth.

"Jareth has been my best friend for centuries," Ludo said, somewhat coldly. Oops - she'd forgotten he could read minds. "But my priority is the well-being of the Underground."

"Why is it so urgent that I leave?" Sarah asked, being careful to voice her question out loud. This mind-reading business could get too confusing. "Can't I stay and try to help?"

"Sarah..." Ludo began, then stopped. He tried again. "If Jareth loses this battle of wills..."

"Yes?" prompted Sarah, as it didn't seem like he was going to continue his sentence.

"The Labyrinth will be completely out of control. We don't know where it came from, or when or how it manifested. To our knowledge, it has always been bound to a particular manifestation, but... there's no telling what havoc it could wreak now. That is something I simply can't allow."

Sarah was afraid she knew where this was heading. His expression grew grim as he confirmed it.

"I'll have to destroy it. I don't know how our world will manage without it, but we can't manage it running rampant."

Sarah couldn't even begin to assimilate that - destroy the Labyrinth? Was that even possible? And what about all the creatures in it? Good lord, Jareth would never stand for a thing like that... Sarah knew, underneath everything, he really did care for his kingdom deeply. And somehow, Sarah thought with a wrench in her stomach, she had come to care as well. All her friends -

"Of course he cares," replied Ludo. "But he's an arrogant fool. And now he's paying the price."

"I'm still not leaving until I've done all I can to help," she said defiantly. There had to be _something_!

"There's nothing you can do," he said tiredly. "Jareth's last request was for me to get you out of here - and that I will do."

His last request! How ominous. But... "If I leave..." Sarah asked hesitantly, and completed the question in her mind. Would everything be all right again, since it was her presence the Labyrinth objected to in the first place?

Ludo gave a short, humorless laugh. "Hardly. The Labyrinth is out of control now. It's up to Jareth to maintain his hold over it, and that's looking less likely with every minute that passes without him waking."

But Sarah's thoughts were still running wild. This just had to work - the Labyrinth had to be made to see that if she was out of the picture, there was no longer any justification for the fight. Maybe if she confronted it directly...?

"Sarah, this is folly," said Ludo, alarmed. "You can't go running out into the Labyrinth while it's in this state. If you think you've suffered harm before... it's nothing compared to what could be out there now."

What had been out there before, really? Not much - Mortenna wasn't very nice to encounter, and the goblins at the entrance of the maze had been vicious, but even this time around she had met more friends than foes. There was Gideon, Talie, that silly Knight...

Ludo shook his head. "Such a quest would be unlikely to meet with success, at any rate. The Labyrinth is..." He trailed off, unwilling to complete that thought.

But the idea had taken hold in Sarah's mind. "I've got to talk to it, show it that it's wrong - surely it would at least listen to me?"

"Yes, it could listen of course, it has ears... but there is much I don't understand about the situation. I am not comfortable letting you go back out there on your own, especially with the goal of confronting the Labyrinth itself."

"I'm hardly on my own," Sarah pointed out. She had loads of friends to help her out.

Ludo merely continued to look grave.

"I can't go home with something like this on my conscience," she said, gesturing to Jareth. "I've got to do what I can."

There was silence for a while. "I don't like the idea," said Ludo eventually.

"You've said that already," replied Sarah with a note of flippancy. "But you'll help me, won't you?" She was sure of it, and his expression confirmed it.

"I cannot go with you - I have too many duties of my own. My presence here will probably be all that stands between the neighbors of this land and their destruction. I do wish you would accept my offer to aid you to leave..."

"I don't know why, but I think he would do the same for me," said Sarah firmly. "Sure, he took me here against my will, without asking me first, but I'm sure he had his reasons. It wouldn't be right to leave him here like this... I just... I can't do that."

Ludo nodded.

"Can you just... well, I don't know how to find the Labyrinth to talk to it," admitted Sarah.

"That is the simple part, actually," replied Ludo. "Mortenna crafted Gideon and his fellow books in the sole purpose of finding the manifestation of the Labyrinth; she hoped one day to destroy it."

Sarah didn't even bother to question the fortuitous coincidence that landed her with the very book that had exactly what she needed. "Gideon?" she inquired of the book hovering near the wall.

**I can guide you to the Labyrinth's manifestation**, it assured her.

Fantastic, thought Sarah. Something was at last going right.

"Be careful," warned Ludo. "I know you are inventive, clever, and brave, but you are getting yourself into a situation that may be too much for even you to handle."

Sarah nodded. She was touched by his concern - he really was a good friend - but this was her quest, and she would do what it took to finish it. "And I do have that charm you gave me," she reminded him.

His grave expression didn't lighten. "I can't guarantee that it will be as effective as it ought to be," he replied. "It should help, but a bit of proxy magic of mine may not be a match for the uncontrolled Labyrinth on its own turf."

Sarah shrugged. "Then I'll be careful."

Ludo smiled at her, managing despite everything a warm reassuring smile, and she gave in to the urge to hug him. He responded kindly enough, for someone who was supposed to be centuries old and the ruler of this world. After a few moments' embrace she pulled back, a little embarassed. He could read her thoughts, after all.

"Thank you," she said, referring to everything he'd ever done for her - right down from when she was fifteen and here for the first time. She didn't want to say farewell, as if they'd never see each other again, but he knew she thought it. He gave her another smile, understanding.

"Come on," said Sarah, looking back at Gideon and taking a deep breath. She had to get out of here before the situation overwhelmed her and she started crying. "Let's go."

* * *

Their exit from the castle and the goblin city was uneventful; they took the main exit and encountered no goblins in the streets. The gates swung open for them as they left; Humongous was apparently only a problem if you were trying to enter the city without permission.

There was no junkyard surrounding the city this time, but a gate opening directly onto the forest. This seemed a rather radical change to Sarah, but she shrugged it off as another quirk of the Labyrinth. She checked with Gideon for directions, not that there seemed to be much choice - there was only one path, and dense forest on every side.

She hesitantly took a few steps down that path, leading deep into the forest where little light reached the ground. Her last experience in the forest really hadn't been that bad; she got into trouble with the Fireys and ate that peach, was all. She hoped that meant the forest itself was relatively innocuous, but Ludo's warnings were hard to ignore.

There was virtually no light in the forest, and she grew alarmed at the prospect of traversing the forest in the dark. Should she have spent the night at the castle? Evidently the thirteen hour time limit didn't matter anymore, but she wondered if she'd really have been able to get any sleep with Jareth lying near-death.

Speaking of time limits, Sarah hadn't even thought to check the clock in the throne room; there had been too many distractions. Not that it mattered, true, but it would have been nice to know whether she'd solved the Labyrinth once again within the allotted time. It seemed like she had been here a good deal more than thirteen hours, though, and perhaps Jareth had been occupied with other things rather than checking up on her.

At any rate, that train of thought would get her nowhere. Sarah needed to concentrate on safety and caution in this jungle. She brushed aside a bush that overhung the path, and winced. It had sharp thorns! She ignored the pain, hoping the thorns weren't poisonous or something equally nasty - she wouldn't put it past this place! - and continued down the path. The light was getting worse by the minute, and it was obvious that, monsters of the dark aside, navigating the partly overgrown path without light would be next to impossible.

Well, she would worry about that when she got there. There was still light enough to avoid any obvious hazards on the path.

She picked her way down the path, careful to watch where she put her feet and anything overhanging the path. She remembered irrelevantly the way Ludo had disappeared the first time she entered the forest - suppose she too fell through and ended up in the bog? But that would be all right, because according to Jareth, Didymus was still there, and anyway, it's not like anything truly _dangerous_ had threatened her in there -

All of a sudden and without warning the foliage exploded on either side of her. Black shapes hurled themselves on her and - ugh, it wasn't foliage, but something long and slimy and - Sarah shrieked, loudly. She was being attacked by hundreds of snakes!

Finding herself shocked by the unexpected attack of the slithery things, Sarah desperately waved her arms and tried to rip them off of her, but couldn't get a grip on any of them. She screamed again as she felt one bite the hand that had tried to grab it, and renewed her desperate but futile efforts.

She was dimly aware of Talie approaching, pleading for her to be quiet - "Please, milady, or other things in this forest may come!"

With a supreme effort of will, made possible only by the thought of something even worse coming, Sarah shuddered once and held still under the writhing mass. It was probably only five or six snakes, and she had only been bitten the one time, but Sarah's panic - not unreasonable for a woman finding herself draped in unpleasant, slimy creatures - transformed the five or six into hundreds. When she stopped moving, Talie approached closer with a branch in her hand. She hefted it under one of the snakes, and despite her lack of leverage, the snake came away with the branch. Sarah noticed the snake try to bite the branch, but luckily Talie was well out of range.

She was still shivering from the things crawling on her arms, shoulders, and head, but she carefully took the branch from Talie and lifted away another snake. Her hand smarted badly from the bite she'd received, but with her free arm she pried loose another snake from her other side, and it too disappeared into the dark foliage along the path. Talie found another branch, long enough for her to knock away the other snakes from Sarah's shoulders. As the last one was knocked off, she felt a bite in the back of her shoulder, and bit her lip hard to keep from shrieking again.

Sarah shuddered violently and grabbed Talie's hand, mumbling her thanks and hurrying down the path. In the dim light, she could just barely make out the bite on her hand, and while it was red and irritated-looking, it didn't look swollen or poisoned... not that Sarah had any idea what a poisoned snake bite looked like.

Sarah soon checked her headless progress, and started stepping more carefully down the path, now much more wary of overhanging branches or obstacles. She was still shivering from the sensation of the snakes draped all over her, but objectively, she had been lucky to escape with no more harm than a couple bites. Those bites were hurting like hell, but at least she was neither seriously wounded nor dead.

She kept walking, but before she knew it, the light had completely gone. Either what sun there had been had set, or the forest concealed all light. Either way, it caused Sarah to stumble over a stone in the path she didn't see. Throwing out her hands to catch herself, her skin scraping off in the process, she didn't even try to get back up. She brushed off Talie's worried inquiries and sank her head onto her elbows, still lying sprawled on the path. She didn't have the energy to move, and what would be the point? She couldn't see a thing in this forest. If only she had a torch... but she didn't. She should have at least stayed in the castle until the morning!

She laid there feeling sorry for herself for many long minutes, until the image of Jareth lying near death came back to her mind. In the morning, it could be too late... and so she dragged herself up into a sitting position and took stock of the situation.

She wasn't grievously harmed, nor was she in major discomfort. It hadn't exactly been fun, being attacked by snakes, but they seemed more of a minor obstacle than a serious one. Her biggest problem now was the lack of light - the moon, if there was one in this world, was behind the clouds and the treetops. She had no flashlight or even a way to make a fire.

"Talie?" she asked hesitantly, finally addressing the goblin's worried looks. "Do you know where we could get some light?"

To her disappointment, the little goblin shook her head, looking sorrowful. "Maybe at castle..." she suggested, but Talie knew very well that Sarah would not have left the castle if she'd meant to go back so soon.

Which was true enough, at any rate. She had to continue on.

Soon enough, though, she worked out a solution. Sarah had one hand on Gideon, letting it guide her down the trail, and with the other hand, she was grasping Talie's paw. She was sure they made a funny tableau - and Jareth probably would have laughed at them, had he been around. The thought cheered her slightly, though she couldn't have said why. She was still nervous about the possibility of encountering whatever horrible things Ludo had been referring to, and thinking of all the amusing things Jareth would have had to say was a nice distraction. He probably would have mocked her inability to see in the dark - she wasn't sure how, but she was convinced that Jareth would have no trouble at all seeing in this forest. Then he would have curled his lip at Talie, his contempt masking his fondness for her. He had a mouth made for smirking, Sarah decided, his lips so expressive and his mouth...

Sarah strictly interrupted her own musings. She obviously had some issues to work out - was her prompt rushing off to aid Jareth part of a hero complex she hadn't known she had, or part of this amorphous, weird thing she had for the man himself? Now was not the time to decide, though.

They had only been walking about ten minutes more after the snake attack, slowly and carefully and not making much progress, when she started to pick up some distant thudding noises behind them. It was notable in that otherwise silent night forest, and somewhat ominous-sounding. Sarah was pretty sure she didn't want to meet whatever stalked this forest at night. She quietly urged Gideon to pick up the pace, and stopped worrying so much about tripping over something.

The noises quickly grew louder and closer. "Uh oh," intoned Sarah, gripping Talie tighter and daring a glance back. Of course she saw nothing, but she fancied she could sense a disturbance in the forest behind them. This really could not be good. Sarah broke into a half-run, half-trot, urging Gideon and Talie to hurry. Luckily, her eyes were starting to get used to the dark - or had the moon come out and brightened the forest slightly? - and she feared whatever was behind them a little more than she feared tripping and falling again. Of course, if she fell down and there was some kind of monster after them, she'd be in a lot more trouble then, but she decided to try not to think about that possibility.

Even at Sarah's quickened pace, the crashes behind them were getting louder, and now Sarah thought she could make out footfalls at regular intervals as well. Whatever it was, it was traveling fast.

The forest was still dark and overgrown, but Sarah managed to increase her pace down the trail and avoid overhanging branches. She kept glancing back, hoping to see what it was behind them, and tried to ignore Talie's occasional frightened speaks as she tried to keep up with Sarah. She figured Talie might know what was following them, but Sarah didn't really want to know.

Louder and louder the noise behind them grew, and Sarah was running out of breath, dashing along down the trail, Gideon somehow still always just ahead, pushing branches out of the way, never able to see much more than a few feet ahead, recklessly rounding bends and curves in the trail a bit too fast...

Suddenly she rounded one last sharp corner, looking behind her rather than where she was going, and her shins banged into something furry but hard. Sarah lost her balance, and fell headlong onto the furry thing.

It hurt. Groaning, Sarah sat up, cursing herself, heart beating fast at the fear that the monster had somehow gotten ahead of her on the trail. She looked down at what she'd fallen on, and saw orange limbs skewered all over the ground in a seemingly unconnected jumble. Sarah recognized it at once; it was a fiery, and incapable of making the crashing sounds that were following her. Sarah just had time to wonder if the fiery was all right before the loud footsteps rounded the bend after her. Sarah stumbled to her feet and looked up to see what had been following them.

It was huge - that was all she knew - and she scrambled to get up, firey limbs in her way and the shape bore down on her and she threw herself off the path, out of its way, praying Talie wasn't in the way too. The shape's momentum carried it a few paces beyond her, but it soon righted itself and pounded over in her direction. The firey put itself together - minus the limb Sarah had somehow come to hold in her hand - and was gone in an instant. The creature was sniffing her out - she could make out the shape of a great muzzle. Panicked, Sarah had no idea what to do. She froze.


	9. Chapter 9

"Hiiiiieeee-yaaaaah!" came a great piercing cry, and something clip-clopped into view and ran right into the great monster shape. Sarah unfroze and backed up out of the way, further off the path. Whatever had intervened was carrying a spear, and was shrieking and circling the monster, harassing it with jabs of the spear. "Take that! And that! You great brute, have at it! I will take you on, you are no match for me and my faithful steed! Hie-yah!"

Sarah almost sobbed in relief as she recognized - how could she mistake it for anything else? - Sir Didymus's voice. She struggled to her feet and brushed her way back to the path, tearing off a study limb as she did. She wouldn't let Sir Didymus face this challenge alone.

"Fear not, fair maiden, I shalt save thou!" he cried, and jabbed at the monster again. It didn't seem to actually be hurting it at all - but at least its attention was diverted from Sarah. Making a huge effort, she swung her branch at its head with all her strength. It didn't seem to make any kind of dent, but the monster shook its head in irritation, and, prodded on by Sir Didymus's jabs, ducked its head and shuffled off back away down the path.

Sarah felt like crying with relief. "Sir Didymus!" she cried.

"My lady!" he answered with feeling.

Feeling like she was fifteen again, she swept him up and hugged him just like she had always wanted to. "I am so happy you're here," she said, sobbing into his soft fur. She fancied he gave her an awkward pat on the shoulder, that being all he could reach. "And Ambrosius - you were both so brave!"

Ambrosius snuffed into her open palm, like he was expecting to find treats. Disappointed, he sat back and barked. She blinked and let go of Sir Didymus, smiling through tears. "I am so happy to see you," she repeated. "But how did you know to find me?"

Sir Didymus drew himself up and straightened his tunic, which had been slightly ruffled by her attentions. "It was my duty to come to your rescue," he answered. It was no answer at all, but Sarah was satisfied. She'd been so scared - after all Ludo's warnings - but it hadn't been a very great monster after all. Or perhaps Didymus was just a better knight than she'd ever given him credit for!

Sir Didymus bowed low as if sensing her thoughts. "I must return to my domain, my lady. But if you call, I shall answer."

"Thank you so much," Sarah said in effluent gratitude. "I missed you, you know."

"We, too, missed you, my lady. But now is not the time for reminiscences. Later, we shall reunite. Fare ye well, gentle lady." He executed a courtly bow, mounted Ambrosius, and the two trotted off into the dark down the path.

* * *

Sarah gave a great sniff, wiped her nose on the back of her hand, and stood up. "Talie? Gideon? Please, please be ok..."

A small creature crept out from the bush and hugged her leg. "Talie here. Was afraid."

Sarah smothered a laugh and patted her head. "Me too, Talie. Me too, but it's ok now."

An object hovered close and Sarah recognized Gideon. "All right," she said as quietly as she could manage. "Let's get on with this thing."

Gideon set off back down the path and Sarah followed, shaken but grateful to still be in one piece.

But the trail abruptly dead ended and the trees stopped. Sarah was taken by surprise - she had been putting one foot in front of another by rote. So hungry - and growing tired - but she had to do this. She glanced up and was able to discern - was the light getting better or were her eyes getting more used to it? - a giant looming mountain right next to her. The trail seemed to go straight up the rock face! Although it wasn't a straight 90 degree angle, Sarah was sure she would not be able to ascend it. "Er - Gideon? Can we go around this somehow?"

The light _was_ getting better. The words on Gideon's pages stood out starkly, unlike before. **I have no knowledge beyond our location and the location of the Labyrinth's manifestation.**

Sarah sighed. "Very well," she said, "we'll just walk around it."

She turned and skirted the area between where the forest stopped and the angle of the cliff was insurmountable. It was slow going - the footing was difficult and Sarah was not gifted at navigating tricky ground. She stumbled a lot and progress was slow, but she was unwilling to enter the trees again. It had been too dark in there to see, was her excuse - but of course she felt better out in the open. She'd experienced too many claustrophobic spaces today to be entirely comfortable with them.

At long last, Sarah found her way to a gentler slope she thought she'd be able to ascend. She checked with Gideon to make sure they were still heading in the right direction, and then gathered her skirts around her and began to climb.

It was unpleasant. She fell down a lot and her palms suffered. At least, she thought with a note of grim irony, she was wearing super sturdy boots for the damn witch's costume Jade had bullied her into wearing - was that yesterday? It felt like forever ago - and her feet held their own against the steep rocky slope. She found some handholds and eventually decided it was better to haul herself up on all fours. Talie seemed to be doing ok, and of course Gideon floated along, keeping pace with her just fine. She tried not to feel resentment - it was a _book_, after all!

Eventually she hauled herself up to a relatively flat stretch, and Sarah gratefully seized the opportunity to rest. She swung herself over to the side and let her legs dangle off of the edge of a large outcropping of rock. Her eyes fell shut and she thought it might not be a bad thing to rest a bit.

She started. Talie was tugging at her sleeve. Shit! She looked down at the goblin maiden - "Oh no, did I fall asleep?" Talie looked down and didn't answer. Sarah cursed herself again. What was she thinking? Jareth could be _dying_ right now! She leapt up and took a good look around. Where to next?

What she saw rather took her aback. She had ascended beyond any other landmark, and could see clearly for at least a hundred miles. The sun was rising in the sky far across the horizon. The clouds were a soft orange and red burgeoning into pink, layered in patterns and dotted across the sky. The Labyrinth was spread out before her in all its glory - and to Sarah's eye, it looked like a patchwork of jewels, glittering in the sun like a priceless treasure.

She just sat there, soaking in the detail. There was the castle in the center, strong and dark against the lightening horizon; the goblin city, each house somehow ridiculous and neat at the same time, a few shutters opening as the goblin families awoke to another day to the roosters' crowing; the junkyard, which didn't look so junky in the soft morning light but looked adventuresome and full of promising treasures; the forest, which didn't have an abrupt beginning or ending at all, but seemed to shift shape even as she watched - and was that the bog? Sarah stifled a giggle - and looked inviting and peaceful; the hedge maze, yes, there it was definitely changing its borders and courtyards to match its moods, full of nooks and crannies jam packed of undiscovered delights and new creatures; the stone walls taking over from the hedges once you got further to the edge; and then the great shapeless plain, stretching out into forever. Sarah couldn't imagine what Ludo had meant by "encroaching on the neighbors." There was absolutely nothing around, far as the eye could see.

Sarah's breath hitched in her throat, _again_ - it was absolutely beautiful. It was perfect. Every inhabitant had its place in the grand scheme, every corridor was precisely placed, even the trees were vivid and sentient, they knew their place and they did so absolutely well in it... nothing, but nothing marred the view. The feeling that all of it was meant to be exactly as it was was the most amazing thing she'd experienced in her whole life.

Talie had to keep tugging insistently at her to grab her attention away from the magnificent view. "Right - right," Sarah said breathlessly, feeling rather out of sorts. She couldn't, at that moment, remember what she was there for. "Right, let's go."

* * *

It had taken a while to clear her head. Sarah moved up the slope mostly by rote, putting one foot in front of the other and scrambling uphill when she no longer could walk. Eventually she grew sick of it - and just as she thought she couldn't take any more of this, she encountered a solid wall. More relieved than disappointed, she moved sideways for a while wearily and eventually found a plateau. Some grass was growing, but it was mostly bare. Looking around, Sarah couldn't see that it gave her an easier way up to the mountaintop either!

She sat down and sighed heavily. The sun was up with a vengeance, now, and it was getting hot. Sarah felt ready to give up. _Damn_ that Labyrinth for being in such a ridiculously inaccessible spot!

Talie coughed. Sarah looked over at her idly. "What is it, hun?"

And when had she started giving goblin endearing nicknames?

Talie's eyes were downcast, but she did have something to say. "I think if - if milady were to summon a unicorn - they are the only creatures Talie know can make it to the top of the great mountain."

Sarah furrowed her brow in confusion. There were unicorns around? Really? She glanced back around the plateau, and sure enough - really, had that been there before? - a white horse was hanging around, grazing towards the far end of the plateau. It seemed to pay them no mind, and Sarah couldn't even tell whether it had a horn or not.

But all of a sudden while Sarah was watching it, it raised its head and, giving a toss of its mane, trotted over to her. Oh yes indeed - it was a unicorn. Sarah's eyes grew wide and she made out details - the smoothest coat she'd ever seen, the glossiest mane, the most graceful gait...

Then Sarah colored slightly. She liked the idea, but - "I don't think I could get anywhere near a unicorn," she told Talie in chagrin. "I'm not exactly what you'd call a - a maiden." True, she and Jade had all but been engaged - if he'd believed in marriage they probably would have been - and it had seemed only natural at the time, but in retrospect, it had not been worth forsaking the company of a creature such as this.

Talie frowned at her, evidently confused. "Talie not understand milady."

Gideon clarified the situation for them. **To approach a unicorn, it is enough to mean no harm. But to tame it, you must cry tears of pure sorrow.**

"Oh," said Sarah, and gave a self-deprecating laugh. "It seems not all the legends from my world are true here after all." But she couldn't deny that the difference was a relief. "Oh well, in that case, it should be a simple matter to tame it and ride it up the mountain."

Gideon did not reply.

Sarah mentally set about finding something to cry over - tears of pure sorrow, was it? That should be ridiculously easy - her whole experience in the past however-many-hours had been one painful disaster after another. She thought immediately of Jareth, still as the dead - she never imagined she'd be crying over the man, but if she couldn't get up the mountain and save the day... he would die. And Sarah never truly wished him that, even at her most frustrated and angry with him. She prepared to summon some tears, but something about that train of thought jarred her.

Frustrated and angry? Any tears she cried over the Goblin King would be rife with a thousand emotions other than mere sorrow. Anger, yes even now... fear that he might die, hope that she could still save him, and a lot of confusion - just how did she feel about him, anyway? And he her? No, there was nothing pure there.

So she thought instead of Merlin - it still hurt somewhere deep inside her, though she had managed to get past it and go on with her adventure. Tears would come easily there, but again... so many other things than sorrow. Hurt, this deep emotional pain that would not go away, and there was anger again - anger at his demise, at the fact that he had to be there at all, at the way that no one else seemed to care. Sorrow, certainly, much sorrow... but _purely_ so? It was beginning to seem unattainable. She had too much emotionally invested in everything to dispense with any of it.

So she thought of her home, her family, her boyfriend - but even the thought of never seeing them again was a selfish sorrow, born out of her desire for familiarity and comfort. Even her sorrow at the thought of losing this contest - if there even still was one - and being trapped here was tainted by her self-interest.

Yet stubbornly, she refused to give up. Somewhere within her there must be a way to find a pure emotion. If she did give up... if she didn't find a way to the top... she closed her eyes in pain against the idea. Jareth would die, she knew, and the Labyrinth - in her mind she heard Ludo saying again, in the gravest voice she'd heard from him yet, that he would have to destroy it. At that thought, her stomach turned to stone and she felt cold all over. For all its hazards, perils, and frustrations, the Labyrinth was magnificent. Something wrenched her heart and tears stung her eyes as she thought of its destruction - this wild, lovely place she'd seen spread out before her from the cliff side. What a tragedy it would be to lose!

Sarah stumbled blindly, squeezing her eyelids shut against the tears that threatened to fall, and wound up on her knees. She choked back a sob as she tried not to imagine the consequences of the destruction of the Labyrinth. But the tears were coming in earnest now, and they were not for herself or for anyone close to her - they were for her sorrow over the fate of this beautiful, mythical land which had, for better or worse, gained a place in her heart.

She couldn't stop the tears once they began. Sarah didn't know how long she cried - it was a timeless, transcendent moment in which she realized the depth of her connection to the Labyrinth. She was, however, soon startled out of it by a soft nudge.

Sarah looked up into the countenance of the unicorn, who was nuzzling her cheeks and wiping away her tears. She smiled in joy and relief. Tentatively she lifted a hand and carefully stroked the forehead of the creature. It was soft beyond belief, velvety and pure. The unicorn nickered at her touch, and Sarah fell in love.

* * *

Later, she was wishing everything had been so easy and so rewarding. Having never ridden anything approaching a horse in her life, mounting the unicorn proved to be very interesting. Talie had suggested she use a fence - which of course was none to be found anywhere in the vicinity. She tried jumping directly onto the unicorn's back, but succeeded only in making a fool of herself. The unicorn behaved flawlessly, but Sarah was sure she detected a glint of amusement. Eventually, the unicorn presumably took pity on her and showed her to a suitable boulder. Granted, Sarah was at first dismayed by what she interpreted to be walking away in disgust, but she caught on soon enough and realized what the boulder was meant for.

Once successfully mounted on the broad, comfortable back, the trip became much simpler. The unicorn knew exactly where she wanted to go, and trotted up the impossibly rocky slope with ease. For some reason, Talie had no trouble following in their wake. The unicorn was even finding paths that Sarah could have sworn had appeared magically for their passage. And why not? What couldn't happen, mounted on the back of what was surely the most beautiful unicorn in existence!

Without any conscious means of dialog, Sarah knew that the creature was amused but flattered by the compliment. Through the course of the ride, she also found out - but it was like she'd known it all along - that the unicorn was named Salern, and that he liked her. Well. She liked him too!

The ride itself was a joy, pure and uncomplicated. The talented magical animal beneath her bore her willingly and powerfully. She had no fear of falling - indeed, she felt more secure than she did on her own two feet. The distance was abrogated all too soon - the urgency of her mission and her complicated mass of emotions seemed to have no place alongside her on this fantastic journey.

The arrival on the topmost slopes was uneventful. At first glance, all Sarah saw were plants and large rocks scattered about the relatively level patch of ground. The Labyrinth was spread out on all sides, and Sarah spared a few moments to savor the amazing view. Its rich and varied landscape seemed to gain even more power from so far up. Something in her heart swelled, and Sarah knew she would do whatever was in her power to save this land.

She dismounted, throwing a leg over the side of her newest friend and sliding down awkwardly. There was neither soreness in her legs nor any adjustment to make from the ride. She inspected the area around her more closely, to no avail.

"Gideon?" she asked. "There's nothing here." The book opened a page on which Sarah saw an arrow, pointing at - at a bush?

She approached it, knowing Gideon would be right. Before she'd taken two paces in that direction, the bush stood up. No, it was no bush - it was a man. In fact, it was the old man who'd given her advice the first time she'd threaded the Labyrinth! His rags and various accoutrements were still there, but his hat... his hat was gone, Sarah noted with some regret. She'd rather liked the cheeky bird.

"Sir," she began hesitantly, as the old man showed no signs of starting a conversation. "I came to tell you... something important, I mean..."

And after all this time and heartache, she didn't even know how to say what she'd come for!

Salern came to her rescue once again. He approached close behind her, and with the mere feel of his breath on the back of her neck, Sarah relaxed and found the means to continue. "I understand there's been a disagreement between you and the King," she said, the words sounding confident and practiced. If only she could speak like this all the time! "You wish to have me sent home in the belief that I came here unwillingly?"

The old man stared at her unblinkingly, his countenance grave and his expression closed. His lack of response sapped away from of her initiative, and she floundered slightly in continuing. "I - that is, it's not like that." She flushed - unfortunately it had been all too much like that, and she had spent too much time resenting it to feel sanguine about lying now. But it had to be done.

"I came back voluntarily," she concluded firmly. A flat-out lie, that. What irony in lying to the manifestation of this land regarding the actions of its king in order to save its life, and his!

Still, nothing. Sarah grew uneasy. Something was wrong - shouldn't it, well, say something? The old man had appeared perfectly capable of speech last time she had encountered him. What was going on?

Then, for no reason, the old man turned and stumbled away. He approach the edge of the cliff, and Sarah followed with trepidation. It was a sheer fall, over that cliff - she took another couple steps back. "Hello?" she asked uncertainly.

The man faced her, but faltered. Then - "There is a power here greater than either of us," he said in a lower, spooky voice.

Somehow, Sarah sensed the truth of what he was saying: she could feel a power, tangible in the air, that wanted to be freed. Free of what? Sarah was out of answers and out of options. Angrily, she stepped up and confronted the old man with all the force of her personality and resolve - just like she had stood down Jareth last time, and she'd won then too!

Afterwards, she could never say what prompted her to continue the man's words. "And in the end, this power -" Sarah paused for effect, feeling once again as though she were reciting lines - "No one can control it."

The power in the air she'd felt became a pulse, and she knew somehow that her words rang more true than she could have intended. Unconsciously, Sarah had pulled out the bell charm from Ludo, although with no clear idea of how to use it.

Without warning, the old man gave a screech and - he _jumped_ on her, clawing at her face - frightened despite her greater strength, Sarah curled up to defend herself and backed away sideways - he was coming at her too fast - too far - what was happening? With a cry, Sarah realized she and the old man had backed away to the edge of the cliff! Desperately, she clutched at the old man, but it only overbalanced him.

And then they were both falling, falling - and Sarah lost consciousness before the ground came rushing up to meet her.


	10. Chapter 10

Her head hurt. For a very long time, the pain in her head was all she was aware of. A multiplicity of different kinds of pain - sharp, throbbing, dull, pinched, aching - and it was everywhere, inside her head and out. For what seemed like hours, she lay there praying she would fall back asleep and lose herself in oblivion. But sleep wouldn't come, and eventually she realized the pain was coming from _outside_ her head - not forces inside it. She did her best to block it all out - every thought, every sense, everything. She focused, concentrated as hard as she could on one imaginary spot in the blackness - and gradually she lost awareness of the pain. Slowly and painstakingly, she then tried to open her senses again, one by one.

Hearing was the first to come back, but the pain was kept at bay as long as she closed her head off to everything else. Words came in, but they were not processed - only remembered, to be explored later.

"...don't understand," someone was saying. "It had to go somewhere. As long as we've ever known this place, it had a focus, a manifestation. I'm not convinced it could just dissolve into the land or the structures."

There was a long silence, then a reply came to the first speaker. "I don't have it, I've told you that. I think I would know."

"But you were in the middle of fighting it," replied the first voice, sounding puzzled.

"I know," said the second coldly. "I wasn't aware it was transferable. Had I been..."

"But you-" said the first, then hesitated. "You are still aware of _something_ there, are you not?"

Another pause. "Yes. I still have a connection to something. It's in the same place and feels normal, as it did before all this happened, though it's blocking me off completely right now. But..." the second voice trailed off.

"But?" prompted the first.

"It feels different. I can't say how. But I know it has changed."

"You don't think that... that somehow _she_..."

"No!" said the second loudly. "I will not discuss that. It isn't even a possibility."

"You have to consider it eventually," said the first, not without sympathy. "And it is certain her thoughts are now closed to me."

The second voice did not reply. She decided then she knew how to open her eyes, without opening the floodgates in her head again. At first, it wasn't too bad - her vision was blurry but shapes and colors were coming in. She even felt like she could roll over and try to look around at whoever had been speaking.

She was in a dimly lit room with no windows. A fire was lit in the grate at the end of the room, but it was not close enough to cause her eyes pain. She was lying in some kind of bed - not her own, that much was certain. The room was not large, and sparsely furnished. Two figures were standing by the door, watching her slowly take stock of her surroundings. After staring at them for a while, she recognized them. Jareth and Drake. With that recognition, Sarah knew who she was again, and remembered all that had happened.

She set up abruptly, sharply. With memories flooding back in, so were questions. What had happened? Where was she? Was everything all right again? But even amid all of that, she was still careful to keep her mind closed to whatever out there had been trying to invade her head.

Her sudden movement caused both of them men to rush to her side, looks of concern on their faces. "Lie back down, Sarah," said Drake. "You've been out for a while, don't exert yourself."

Sarah frowned at him and stayed sitting up. The pain had not come back when she had moved abruptly, proving that it had been no ordinary headache. She didn't really want to think about what it was instead. "For a while?" she repeated, her voice coming out rusty. She noticed her throat was sore. "How long?"

The men exchanged a glance, then Drake replied, still frowning. "A month."

Sarahs eyebrows flew up. "Impossible," she breathed. "How did I survive a month-long coma?"

The frown deepened. Drake shrugged. "You haven't taken anything to eat or drink," he said, but not very satisfactorily by way of answer.

"Did you do anything to me?" she asked, still trying to understand, but almost wishing she didn't have to. Drake shook his head. "We tried, but soon realized it wasn't necessary. You were fine, except for being unconscious."

Sarah licked her lips. She dreaded the answers that would have to come if she kept asking questions, but saw no other choice. "How is that possible?"

Drake shrugged yet again, a helpless gesture. "We have theories, but..." he glanced at Jareth, who had a stony expression on his face, and broke off.

It didn't matter; she had a decent idea of what that theory might be, as she explored in her memories the conversation she had overheard a few minutes ago. And they might be closer to the truth than anyone wanted to admit. Before she'd closed it off, she hadn't failed to realize that the pain in her head was an _awareness_, an interconnectedness that was too strong for her to handle. She knew the exact moment it had come into her head, too, although the Sarah-mind she had known all her life had been unconscious at the time: when the old man had hit the ground with her almost landing on top of him. She stopped this train of thought abruptly. She refused to think about it; it would lead nowhere good.

She swallowed hard, then looked straight at Jareth. So far, he hadn't said a word to her, and she wondered what he was thinking, but then found she didn't want to know. "Send me home," she demanded. She thought she deserved that much from him, at least.

Drake looked up sharply at that. "You aren't strong enough, Sarah! You've been unconscious for too long."

They both ignored him. Jareth met her eye and he nodded. He brushed Drake and his protests aside and ignored his spluttering. He took Sarah's hand, gently, lightly, holding it as though it might fall apart at any moment. His face was still expressionless, but Sarah thought she detected a bleak sorrow. She felt sympathy for him, but held his gaze steadily and refused to retract her demand.

He didn't say anything, just nodded as if he didn't trust himself to speak.

Before she knew it, she was sitting in the grass at the park near her home. Sarah looked around; the park was full of people out enjoying the sunny weather, but no one had noticed her abrupt appearance. She sighed, and let herself fall onto her back in the soft grass, enjoying the feel of the earth beneath her, unable to face anything right now but a long nap. The pain had long receded, and somehow Sarah didn't think it was capable of coming back to find her up here. She was back, but she didn't think she could face the consequences of being back just now. And as much as she had apparently slept in the past month, she was still tired.

So she slept.

* * *

When Sarah awoke, it was dusk, and the sun had already set. She sat up and looked around. The park was emptying slowly, people tired from a day of carefree fun. The day was rapidly cooling; although it was summer, they lived far enough north that the day's warmth did not last long after the sun had gone. Curiously, Sarah felt no cold at all, though she thought she ought to. Gingerly, she mentally explored her head and found that the strange alien awareness was still there, but it was no longer fighting to invade her head and overload her brain. She made no attempt to unblock the awareness; she felt it couldn't reach her here, but there was no reason to take chances.

She stood up and brushed herself off. She noticed, startled, that she was wearing a ring - could it be the same ring that she had given the old man during her first trip to the Labyrinth? How could she have possibly gotten it from him in that fall? She stared at it, but it provided no answers.

Wearied despite the nap, she turned and began to walk home. She could use a shower, but felt no hunger, or discomfort from any of the scrapes and bruises she'd gotten during her adventure. Her palms, she remembered, had been absolutely shredded. She supposed they had healed already. She didn't really want to think about how or why they had.

She reached her house all too soon, and climbed the steps up the porch, wondering if anyone had noticed she'd been gone, wondering if she even had been gone. Time did funny things, and for all she knew, it had only been a matter of minutes since she'd left for the party that Halloween night. Or maybe it had been years.

Realizing she was no longer wearing her jeans with the witch-robe over them, but a simple white cotton dress instead, and that she had no house key, she settled on ringing the doorbell and hoped someone was home. It felt bizarre to be back, and not at all what she'd expected during all the times she'd longed to be back.

She heard feet running to the door, and a shrill call of "I'll get it!" A smile rose to her face. Toby was here, and that was good to know. The door was pulled open, and then she saw the kid, utterly unchanged from the last time she'd seen him. She grinned and stooped down to hug him tightly as he gave a yelp of surprise. He wriggled out of her embrace and grabbed her hand instead, towing her inside and shouting loudly. "It's Sarah! She's back!"

Her parents came running into the hall, stopping short when they saw her, dressed in clothes she didn't own and looking years older.

"Welcome back," said Karen in a strained voice.

* * *

The next morning, Sarah sat in calculus, trying to pretend to care about what her teacher was saying. She hadn't asked her teachers for make-up work, and hadn't offered any explanations for her week-long absence. Her parents had just assumed she'd been living with Jade. No one else had asked, and suddenly Sarah was grateful she'd never tried to make any real friends. It definitely made things easier at this point. She hadn't bothered trying to get in touch with Jade. She had never really cared about or for him, and he had known that - she really didn't owe him anything. She closed her eyes in frustration. Didn't Jade deserve a whole lot better than she could ever offer him, anyway?

Sarah soon lost track of the functions scrawled on the board and allowed herself to drift off into daydreams. No longer attempting to look alert, she rested her chin in her hand and stared off into the distance.

She ought to have discussed things with Jareth a little more before she'd left, if only to ask him to explain himself. Why had he lured her away in the first place? Why had he fought the old man (she had stopped thinking of him as "the Labyrinth" by now) instead of just sending her back? And why, _why_ had he made no move to keep her there, but just sent her back as soon as she'd asked? She couldn't figure any of it out, and wondered if she'd ever get any answers. Probably not, she figured, unless she went back to ask... but she shied away from even contemplating that, for reasons that were much bigger than one Goblin King. Sarah shivered slightly, suddenly unable to sit still, and deliberately shifted gears in her mind.

And the pain in her head exploded.

She jumped up, unaware that the teacher was in mid-sentence, and rushed out of the room. She ran outside, avoiding the hall monitors without even thinking about it, and threw up in the grass. She emptied her breakfast and continued to dry heave. Her head was spinning, nothing was right, she wasn't where she belonged, she was in a horrible alien world, she didn't understand or remember anything but she knew this was wrong, something inside her was warring, fighting to resurface, she didn't understand it and nothing was right -

A touch on her shoulder and a concerned human voice wrenched her back into herself. Head aching, stomach heaving, she exerted her willpower and looked up at her rescuer. It was a hall monitor, looking concerned.

She was Sarah. She was in school. She'd gone to classes in this place for four years. She took deep, calming breaths of the fresh air. She was ok. Everything would be ok. Her head stopped spinning and her thoughts settled back down inside her head, and she managed to reassure the hall monitor. She slowly made her way back inside, the attack over. She took her seat again, to the blank stares of her classmates and teacher. She muttered something about having gone to the restroom. How had that happened - losing control over herself like that? She didn't know.

As she sat back down in her desk, she noticed something odd about the seat. She shifted and looked down at the floor. Vines bearing pure, tiny white flowers were curling up from the tile around the metal legs of her desk. She swallowed nervously and looked back up to the front of the class. She didn't know, nor did she want to know how they had grown there.

* * *

From that moment on, Sarah could not ignore the weird things that started happening around her. Stuff was always growing where she walked - yellow and purple peonies on the sidewalk, daisies in the backseat of her father's car, her parents' backyard was out of control although her father swore he mowed it every day. Worse, she started seeing goblins and faeries out of the corner of her eye wherever she went - at school in the most boring English classes, behind the rows of cans in the grocery store, even once when she opened the dishwasher at home to help Karen clear away the dishes from dinner. At least, she thought they were goblins and faeries - worse possibilities came to mind that she immediately dismissed. Nothing had _happened_ to her - well, aside from that nasty encounter with a troll!

She'd been walking home one day, having firmly declined her father's offer to leave work early and pick her up from school. She had been spooked of her father's car after the daisies episode, she could admit that to herself - but she also didn't like how worried her father was over her. She'd obviously broken all ties with Jade, which should have made him and Karen happy, but they certainly had noticed something was off with her.

Lost in her own thoughts, she hadn't noticed that she passed into the shadow of a building as she cut through an alleyway - she'd done this a thousand times before and never even thought to look up.

Something heavy smashed into her shins and she gave a low cry as she fell. She twisted around to the side, hoping to evade another blow, and looked up - it was a huge, horrible, heavy troll. No mistaking it - and her with no weapon too! It had a club that was making its way to connect to her head even as she struggled to make sense of the situation - she rolled out of the way again, pushed herself up, and _ran_. It didn't follow her into the traffic across the street. The drivers honked at the girl who darted out into their paths, but Sarah was too worried about the troll to pay heed. She ran the whole rest of the way home, throwing glances behind her as she did.

A few days later, a more welcome magical creature showed up - Gideon. He was fully alive in her presence, but she made him understand that at school, he needed to just be a book. She was full of questions for him, but he had no answers - just vaguely unhelpful platitudes. Still, she felt better just being able to lay her hand on him in her backpack. Not all magic was bad, and she needed the reminder from time to time. Still too scared to face the future, Sarah endured every day as it came and tried her best to suppress or avoid the spontaneous wildlife.

* * *

"Hoggle, I need you."

It was useless. Useless. She'd tried every night since getting back home from the Labyrinth, but he never answered. Why she kept trying, she didn't know. He must still hold a grudge against her for not calling him earlier - but this was ridiculous! She turned her back on the mirror in a huff, as she had every night, and threw herself on her bed. So far no wild growth had invaded this, her most private sanctuary. She was safe here.

"Sarah?"

Her eyes flew open and she sat up, fully awake. "Hoggle!" she cried joyously. For it was him - the grumpy faithful silly old dwarf.

She tackled him and they both fell to the floor, Sarah laughing as though she would never stop and Hoggle trying his best to pretend displeasure. But even his cracked old ugly dwarf features couldn't hide his fondness for Sarah.

"Oh Hoggle, why haven't you come before? All these times I've called, and..."

Hoggle coughed, clearly reluctant to answer. "Well, you see... that rat Jareth..."

Sarah's face grew wide, indignant. "He stopped you from answering?"

Hoggle withdrew slightly in the face of her sparks, muttering incomprehensibly. "Hoggle," Sarah coaxed, laying her hand on his arm, "please tell me."

A lot more muttered excuses later, Sarah had the story. Jareth had apparently kept him imprisoned in an oubliette. Hoggle had given himself up for lost forever - until yesterday when all of a sudden and with no explanation, he'd released him.

Sarah listened to his story, sitting on her floor in silence. She felt that she had expected better of Jareth, and yet at the same time it came as no surprise at all. "Why d'you suppose he let you go?" she asked, trying not to seem overly interested in the answer.

Hoggle shrugged his typical half-uncaring shrug. "Who knows with him," he grunted. "I stay out of his way now."

Sarah suddenly felt an overwhelming gratitude - with so many things in her life that had changed, she was inexpressibly happy for good, steady Hoggle. Even though she knew he would squirm and protest, she grabbed him and hugged him good and hard again. "I'm so glad you're ok now, Hoggle," she explained.

As she pulled away, he hid his embarrassment under gruffness, as usual. "It ain't nothin, Hoggle's been through worse."

"I expect that's so," said Sarah with a fond smile for him. Then she grew serious as she remembered why she'd been asking for him. "Oh Hoggle - I'm in so much trouble and I don't know what to do!" she was practically wailing.

"I can't seem to get away from it - it haunts me like it's trying to take over and everywhere I go, things _grow_ - it isn't _natural_ - and magical creatures just seem to find me, some harmless, some not, and Hoggle there is _something in my head that wants to take over me_." She hissed that last part, trying to convey urgency without letting her panic show.

Hoggle received the news in silence. "I noticed you been leakin' magic all over the place, missy," he finally said. "You shine with it, like a light to anyone who knows how to see any of it. I think -" he hesitated - "I thinks you gots ta return to th'underground."

Sarah just stared at him, waiting for him to continue with a better solution. Hoggle just shook his head. "I got to look into it, I don' know nothin' right now. Jus' give me some time, alright?" he added at her crestfallen face. Sarah nodded, doing her best to stop the tears that threatened to overflow. She'd thought Hoggle would have had all the answers - he always had...

He patted her knee awkwardly. "Don' worry, missy, I won't give up 'til I find somethin', you can be sure of that." Sarah smiled weakly at him as he turned and disappeared through the mirror.

Things were looking bleaker for her every day.

* * *

Hoggle came back the next day with a charm that he promised her would mask the problem, although he warned her it was not a permanent fix. Sarah took it without much hope, but thanked him sincerely all the same. She was still grateful for his friendship and loyalty.

Sarah took each day after that one at a time. Her grades, which had never been good, fell off the deep end. Her teachers tried but couldn't penetrate her gloom. She could barely communicate with her family, who she could tell was worried about her. She was even distant with Toby, unable to participate in their usual games and unsettled by any sudden move he made. She overhead Karen and her father talking, and discovered that they thought Jade had dumped her and she was moping over a broken heart. Ha! Sarah thought triumphantly. At least her problems were _important_, not like all the other girls' her age.

Then she came crashing back to the reality that her problems were, indeed, more important and more pressing than a broken heart when she found that a sapling that had been planted in their front yard a month ago was now almost as large as the ancient trees on the block.

* * *

One morning, a few weeks after her adventure, Sarah woke up to what would be the last straw. Her room - _her room_ - was covered in a fine layer of moss. It covered everything - her bed, even the part she'd been sleeping on, her vanity, her shelves, her carpet, her walls, everything but the window.

She panicked. There was no other explanation for what she did next. She called out and summoned - of all people - _Jareth_.

To his credit, he responded instantly. He appeared in the middle of her room and Sarah, who was completely unnerved and freaked out at that point, fell into him, drawn to him as the solution to her problems. She needed his help, she needed - well, she didn't really know what she needed. But even as she clung to him, he drew her away slightly and studied her. The necklace Hoggle had given her was visible, and she didn't bother to hide it.

Jareth frowned and grabbed the necklace, yanking it off her neck with a sharp tug. She didn't protest. He explained that it was stolen, which didn't take her by surprise, but she didn't admit who took it. He looked at it more closely, and at her.

"I see," he breathed in his deep voice, which was full of concern, "You are leaking magic. This bauble - it would have helped for a little bit - but not, I think for long. Am I wrong?"

Sarah shook her head, mutely. She was still clinging to his arms, although a couple feet of space separated them now.

He was bleaker than she'd ever seen him before. In bare terms, he laid out their situation to her. "It's you, Sarah - you are the Labyrinth now. And," he swallowed, visibly nervous or upset, "living up here Aboveground, you might as well be spilling my very lifeblood into this world. We shall not long survive like this, either of us."

Vaguely, Sarah recognized panic at this, but it wasn't news, not really - she remembered clearly how she'd struggled with that man, the old manifestation of the Labyrinth, and how her determination and youth, with the help of Ludo's magic, had overpowered him and taken it all from his listless body as they lay tangled at the base of that cliff. No, Sarah was not surprised - she had figured all that out already. Mostly, she felt sorrow for the leakage. She understood what she'd been doing to the land - letting it spill out Aboveground - and now that Jareth had forced her to face it, she knew suddenly that she'd have to go back.

Sarah couldn't quite bring herself to say all that yet. Instead, she asked why - "Why did you bring me to the Underground a second time?"

"I - I couldn't let you go. And you - gave me the perfect opportunity, I thought... you missed me as did I you." His admission was simple, free of blustering or kingly posturing.

Sarah answered slowly. "I - I think I was - though I didn't know why..." Sarah had missed a lot of things when she'd returned Aboveground, but was it fair to say... "I think perhaps, I missed you too." They contemplated each other in silence. Was it enough? Sarah couldn't tell.

A sudden knock interrupted them. "Damn," said Sarah under her breath, letting go of Jareth and jumping back at least ten feet. "It's Karen! Hide," she hissed.

Jareth just stood there, still looking at her with that bleak, solemn look on his face. It seemed he would not cooperate with her on anything, despite their newfound camaraderie. The door flew open.

"Sarah, time for breakfa-" her sentence ended in a shriek. "What have you DONE to your ROOM!" Eyes wide, she surveyed the damage - and could not fail to notice the fully grown man dressed in a ridiculous butter-smooth leather outfit, standing in the middle of her stepdaughter's suddenly-green room.

For the first time in her life, words failed her. "Ro-Robert," she said weakly, attempting to summon her husband. But her voice was far too low for him to hear.

Sarah took charge of the situation. "Karen, this is Jareth - my, ah, well, he just came here to check in on me and make sure I was all right. No, we're not sleeping together," she added firmly. "I'm sorry my room's such a mess. I'll clean it soon, I promise. We'll come down to breakfast just as soon as I get dressed - and no, not in front of Jareth!" she added at the alarm showing in her stepmother's eyes.

Sarah grabbed suitable clothing and headed to the bathroom, leaving her stepmother and the Goblin King to kill each other if they liked. At the moment, she couldn't really make herself care.

* * *

A nice hot shower and a fresh change of clothes later, Sarah emerged feeling ready to take anything on. She went downstairs and into the kitchen, where her father, Jareth, and Tobey were sitting peacefully around the table, and Karen was up busily making waffles. Not one to question a good thing, Sarah took her seat. "Morning, everyone," she said in what she hoped was a comfortable tone of voice.

"Morning, Sarah," her father said in a quiet voice. "I've been getting acquainted with your - ah - friend, Jared."

"Jareth," Sarah corrected promptly. She wouldn't want her father on the receiving end of a Goblin King temper tantrum over something as silly as a wrong name.

Her father just nodded. "Well, we've promised to have a nice chat together later."

"Da-a-ad," Sarah rolled her eyes for effect. "I'm grown up now, I think I can make my own decisions!"

"It's just that this is so fast," Karen bustled back to the table with a platter full of delicious looking waffles and set the syrup down aside them, "Sarah, you _just_ broke up with Jade, and now this... other person... well, we're worried about you, sweetie."

Jareth perked up for the first time and showed an interest in the conversation. "Jade? Who is this?" He smiled, showing all of his pointy teeth just like a predator vampire.

Sarah swallowed, suddenly worried for Jade's life. "I'll explain later..." she said evasively, as she focused on getting waffles and syrup on her plate in spite of her little brother's insistent hogging of both.

"Well, _I_'m glad he's back," announced the boy. "I like him much better than Jade!"

Jareth grinned and ruffled the boy's hair, who didn't seem to mind at all - and he put up _such_ a fuss if anyone else tried to do it!

"It's good to see you again too, kid." Karen and Robert exchanged looks, but neither questioned where Toby and this strange man with the mismatched eyes had seen each other before. Sarah reminded herself to be grateful for the small miracles in life. Somehow, everyone made it through breakfast unscathed.

Instead of getting ready to go to school, after breakfast was over, Sarah informed her parents of her intention to move out - again. They were not happy, at all - but Sarah saw Jareth sit up and take notice. He had not been expecting that from her. Sarah wondered why he had come when she'd called if he didn't expect to be bringing her back. But she had to let it go and answer her stepmother.

"Sarah, this is not acceptable. We cannot let you just drop out of school and move in with this boy - it's the worst kind of irresponsible!" Karen exclaimed.

Sarah stared at her dully, not wanting to rehash all of her fights with Karen and her father over Jade. Those fights had been silly, nothing more than a stupid rebellion because she was bored with life and because hurting people made things interesting, at least for a few minutes. She tried to explain - "_This_ is my responsibility now, school won't matter to me where I'm going..."

But, of course, that just made it worse for them. "Sarah, do _not _tell me that you are pregnant..." said Karen in a deadly tone of voice.

"No!" She buried her head in her hands and sighed, out of patience and nice words, and wished that they would just understand.

Suddenly, Karen backed off and nodded, and her father's stony expression cleared. Truly frightened, Sarah realized she was _granting her own wishes_. Instead of ranting, her father _understood_ - he just looked at her and asked, "Sarah, are going to be happy?"

To Jareth's evident surprise, she granted him a shy sideways smile, and assured her father that she knew what she was doing. (Even though deep inside, she really, really did not. But that wasn't the point now, was it?) Jareth, who had been passive until now, took her hand, trying to give her what reassurance he could. She hoped it would be enough.

They stood up and left the room, making their way toward the foyer. Sarah didn't bother thinking about whether she should take any of her possessions. She rather suspected that, given where they were going and what she was going to be, she wouldn't be needing anything - then a sudden thought stopped her.

"Toby," she thought suddenly, and addressed this to the Goblin King. "Will I see him again? Will we ever come back for him?"

His eyes were unreadable pools. "Maybe," was all he would say. She was unhappy with that and resolved she would find a way to stay in touch with her baby brother. They would both need it.

They left the house and walked to the park. Jareth seemed, unusually, to stay completely solemn. No smirks, no smugness, no teasing or flirting. When they arrived to the old willow and her favorite bench, he turned to her and took both of her hands. "I have to warn you - I don't know what will happen, but you might not be human anymore, and changes will come which you can't anticipate."

Sarah nodded and took her hands out of his grasp - she never had wanted things to stay the way they were, anyway. And she was already planning, had thought of an agenda that would be all her own, too. It would be all right...

"Boundaries will have to be repaired, denizens resettled after the disturbances," she said dreamily. Then, with more focus: "And Mortenna, for one, is definitely going to have to go!" Their eyes met, and Sarah felt a little thrill in her spine as they exchanged light laughter. Jareth even seemed to relax. Excitement mounted in her. He extended his hand, and she took it with another smile. "Ready to go home, then?" he asked.

"Yes."


	11. Epilogue

Epilogue

A/N: Inspired in large part by Loreena McKennitt - The Mummers' Dance. And astute readers will recognize phrases from the Labyrinth soundtrack without having them pointed out.

* * *

In the blue veil of the night, they dance. Crowned in wreaths of glowing orange flowers, their movements are fluid and graceful. Shapes come in and out of the lantern light, forming circles and then rows. Ribbons fly in arcs and swirls, then settle on tree branches to form a lattice of satin and leaves. The dancers sing of the springtime and sing to the forest, clear voices carrying to starry skies. The birds are awakened, and they congregate to fill the wood with song. The trees sway with the dancers; the ash and oak, the birch and yew listen to the footsteps on the soft earth. The movements increase in speed, limbs are intertwined, and each dancer answers the call of the fiddler in perfect time. The dance crescendoes, and the owls call to the breathless moon.

They dance until they can dance no more, until the very sun is poised to end their play with shafts of light. Even then, they still wait and they still dance. Every move, every step, is only waiting, and passing the time - the time until she should appear.

Yet when she does appear, they are not ready. It would not be possible to be ready for her coming; she is many times their size, a giant to their eyes, but she is kind, and brings a smile full of magic and a wave of raven hair. She joins the dance and steps to the center of the clearing, her skirts swirling round her as though with a spirit of their own. She claps, delighted with their dance, and they gather around her in a flurry of adoration. She dips her head in a nod of acknowledgment, happy to please them. Amethyst blossoms spring from the ground where she treads, and the whole forest reacts to her presence. She willingly gives the delicate purple flowers in the knowledge that they will form their wreaths for the morrow's dance.

The first brilliant rays of the sun make an appearance on the tree tops, the morning fully come. The faeries slowly fade away, leaving only their garlands and the echo of song. The ghosts of the trees long gone from the woodlands settle again in the past, to wait for another fae dance. The trees no longer dance, but they do not quite sleep. They have been awake ever since she first appeared to speak to them, long ago.

The Lady of the Dark Hair does not mourn the faeries' absence, for the day is glorious and stretches out before her infinitely. She greets all the trees and tends to any wounds in their bark, righting birds' nests and gently replacing the lost young who have strayed from their burrows. Every morning she wanders the lands within her domain, healing and renewing with every step.

A stray head without a body, covered in orange fur, crosses her path, with the chattering, irrepressible firies following. She takes a moment to scold the head's owner for such unrestrained displays of wildness. Hiding a smile, the Lady knows her reprimand will have no effect. It is their peculiar way of paying her respect, and she knows this. She is still smiling to herself as the forest ends, and she steps carefully through a large stone wall that marks the beginning of a great maze.

For all her love of the forest, the Lady knows that the maze is her true home, and she is one with it. Her awareness extends to every small piece of it, from the tunnels deep under the earth to the towering cliffs it climbs. This does not confuse her, however, because she knows she has an identity of her own, one that is separate from the maze. It does not matter to her what the history is of that identity, or what she was and did before becoming part of the maze. She knows who she is, and she knows her role is caring for this land of which she is a part. She knows its mood and revels in its weather, from terrifyingly strong thunderstorms to the great sweeping winds. She does not control it and it does not control her; that she exists and that it exists is enough for her. She is vaguely aware that things were not always so, but it does not bother her that she cannot remember any such time. She rests easy with the certainty that it would not be worth remembering.

The maze's complexity often exceeds her comprehension. Sometimes she encounters a Runner, who represents a purpose engrained deep in the maze's history, well beyond her memory. She feels strong empathy for the Runners, but she does not interfere with the game between the Runner and the maze and the goblins - she is content with an occasional piece of cryptic advice. That way, she does not invoke anyone's wrath; for wrath there is in store for those who would interfere with this game.

Today, she sets those concerns aside, for there is no Runner today. Her bare feet grace the earth as she follows the maze down a corridor to greet its creatures as they awake. She is no more tied to the earth than are the great eagles, but her closeness to the land means that it merits the majority of her attention. A worm nods its head at her, and invites her for tea this afternoon with the missus. She gives him a smile and promises to be there. The ground moves and skinny, curious-looking creatures poke their heads up to gift her with a flood of words. They are not intelligible in any language, but she understands every word and promises to mediate their dispute with the goblins, if the two groups ever manage to sit still for long enough to speak to one another.

A short, stubby dwarf rounds the corner and breaks out into a brilliant smile upon seeing her. This creature she grants a hug, kneeling down to embrace him. He is embarrassed, but pleased. She sits down on the dirt, legs tucked under her, and asks him how his labors are progressing. She listens as he describes the latest problem with the fairy population around the outer walls. He may grumble, but she knows he takes his duties seriously and that he had sorely missed being able to perform them. (Had there ever been a time when he could not perform them? She wonders, but does not mind that she does not know the answer. Things are as they always have been.) Somewhere out there, too, is a small fox who can talk to her again (but was there ever a time when he couldn't?), a dog that reminds her of one she had lost (though she does not know what loss is), and a being whom she once knew as a fuzzy beast but, in reality, is an entity as powerful as she, with far more force at his disposal. She is thankful they are on good terms. There is also a sentient book full of wisdom who is connected to her in ways even she does not understand, and a kind-hearted goblin maid who is different from the other goblins. These six creatures are special, and without knowing why, she calls them "friends."

Somewhere in the back of her mind lives a small, messy boy, laughing and running around. She doesn't know who he is, but she knows he's happy, and she knows he dreams of her and her happiness here. She thinks he is a child, and sometimes she thinks she wants children of her own, but she does not understand what that entails. So she does not think about it much.

The Lady moves on, greeting every creature in her path by name. She knows everyone and they know her: the gentle giants in the north, the gorgeous butterflies on the hilltops, the dangerous eels in the swamps, the prowling cats of prey in the desert sands, the pure unicorns who range where they will, their cousins the wild mustangs of the prairie, even the fierce and untamed dragons who stay deep underground and venture into the sunlight only once a century. These and many others, they love her and she nurtures them, protects them, and rejoices as they grow. The creatures are not hers, but she is the land they depend on and care for, and they respect and worship her. It is no secret that her every wish is granted, but she never wishes ill upon another creature. It is rare that any raise serious trouble in her domain, and her role is never a disciplinary one; those duties she leaves to another. The land's few inhabitants of true intelligence are wary of that other, and even those creatures not ruled directly by that power - all but the goblins - fear his wrath.

It is that other being who she now feels seeking her out. He cuts an imposing figure when striding down her halls, and those left in his wake are relieved to have escaped his notice. He is her opposite: he burns where she soothes, frightens where she reassures, maims where she heals, and taunts where she comforts. He is dark and she is all light; he commands obedience through fear and manipulation while she inspires it with beauty and grace. Yet there is a part of him that is caring and generous, just as she is aware that she can be cruel when necessary. She does not know who he is or where he comes from, but it matters little, for when she looks on him she knows what it means to be complete.

She allows him to find her in a courtyard of green hedges, laced with white flowers of soft petals. There is a fountain which springs from nowhere and collects in a pool, refreshing under the warmth of the sun. He speaks of his fears and she of her dreams. The day is still young, and the Lady shares its youth. The King pulls her close and their lips meet in a glorious symphony of pleasure. Her arms are around his waist, his hands entwined in her hair, and they dance together, swaying to his music in the air. She drinks him in, every inch of him, and her need is satiated. He promises her that he will be there for her when the world falls down, and she believes him. They are strangers, and always will be, but he leads her through the stars and she follows, sadness and pain evoked by his words but banished by his touch. She closes her fist, then opens her palm to him and he takes the delicate flower that has sprouted there, to place it gently behind her ear.

They are one, the Lady and the King - not in the way that the great maze is part of her being, but one because they feel it, because they wish it, because they belong together. She needs neither a roof nor food nor sleep, but this she does need, just as she needs to stay in this land forever. He courts her by day, and visits her at night when they truly come together.

She does not ever remember being without him, but somehow she can remember what it is to be lonely. Now, she feels lonely no longer. And even without being told, she knows when she looks at him that the grip of this loneliness has also left him long behind. They are one, and anything else that ever was does not matter.


End file.
